9.26.11 | Durkin Named Signpost Communicator of the Year

NEW ULM, Minn. - Outdoor writer and Archery Trade Association's Contributing Editor, Pat Durkin, has been named the 2011 Signpost Communicator of the Year by the Quality Deer Management Association. The award was presented during QDMA's National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., recently.

According to QDMA, the Signpost Communicator Award "honors communicators who go the extra mile to share accurate, reliable information about whitetail management with hunting audiences."

"I've known and worked with Pat for a number of years," said Lindsay Thomas, Jr., QDMA's director of communications. "Over the years, Pat has maintained his commitment to get quality information out there to hunters about deer."

Durkin has been writing since graduating from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1983 with a journalism degree. After college, he spent the next eight years working as a sports reporter, education reporter, weekend editor and outdoors editor at the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern newspaper before beginning his career in hunting magazines. He edited Deer & Deer Hunting magazine from 1991 through 2001, Whitetail Hunting Strategies from 2002 through 2003 and National Whitetail Hunter's Journal from 2003 to 2006. His work has appeared in magazines such as American Hunter, Outdoor Life, Bugle, Bowhunt America, Inside Archery, ArrowTrade, Archery Business, North American Hunter, Deer & Deer Hunting and National Whitetail Hunter's Journal to name a few.

Currently Durkin writes a weekly column that appears in four different Wisconsin newspapers, and has been ATA's Contributing Editor since 2001.

"Over my 30-year career, I've never met another outdoor writer who was as true a journalist as Pat Durkin - many get waylaid by the temptation of getting free equipment, going on trophy hunts and getting opportunities to hobnob with the celebrities who make a living from hunting," said Jay McAninch, ATA CEO/President. "Pat has a true north on his moral compass that is incorruptible and his professionalism to his craft stands quietly as a landmark that towers over that of any other outdoor writer, editor or media type that I know."
The Signpost Award is typically given to someone who has not only written about whitetails, but has presented factual evidence time and again to help readers understand the science behind hunting and deer management.

For more information about QDMA's Signpost Award, go to: http://www.qdma.com/events/national-convention/2011-awards/