The Royal Society of New Zealand recently awarded the Charles Fleming Award for environmental achievement to New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trustees, Drs Steve Dawson and Liz Slooten.

The award was established in 1988 by the Royal Society of New Zealand to commemorate the life and work of Charles Alexander Fleming KBE FRS FRSNZ to honour those who have achieved distinction in the protection, maintenance, management, improvement or understanding of the environment. The award, made every three years, consists of a medal, cash grant and public lecture tour.

Public lectures have so far been given in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, Palmerston North, Rotorua and Napier. The last lecture in the series will be held in Dunedin on 13 July 2005, at 12 noon, in the Hutton Lecture Theatre at the Otago Museum. This is an open lecture. Anyone is welcome to attend. Celebratory drinks and nibbles will be served after the talk.

For more information about this award, see the Royal Society of New Zealand web site.