May 7, 2012
Communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology is the recipient of three gold awards for her writing and photography from the international Association for Communication Excellence (ACE), comprised of communicators, educators and information technologists in agriculture, natural resources, and life and human sciences.
ACE annually conducts a Critique and Awards (C&A) program that recognizes excellence in communications skills for individuals involved in the public sector – USDA, land-grant universities, state extension service or experiment stations, and international foundations.
This year Garvey won the first-place award in the news writing competition (about the discovery of a warrior wasp); the first-place award in the feature photo category (a bee sting); and the overall Outstanding Professional Skill Award in the photography division for the sting photo.
In previous years, she received four other gold awards for writing and the overall Outstanding Professional Skill Award in the writing category.
Wrote Eric Mussen in his newest edition of from the UC apiaries, posted online: "This year the coup de grace was one of the world's most appreciated photos – a honey bee trying to leave the scene after stinging me on the wrist. Usually, the break between the sting and abdomen is clean. Occasionally, intestinal tissue remains attached (as it did this time). The judges are still trying to determine how she was able to arrange the lighting, the camera, the wrist and the bee to get that good a shot. That is our secret! The photo has been picked up and used in all sorts of ways. A person in Iraq even placed his own copyright on it!"
ACE will present the awards at its annual conference, June 11-14, in Annapolis, Md.
Garvey, a 25-year UC Davis employee and a former newspaper editor, is an avid writer/editor and photographer. In her leisure time, she captures images of insects but especially prefers honey bees, native bees, dragonflies and butterflies. "I shoot only for educational purposes," she said. Garvey's camera of choice: a Nikon D700 camera equipped with a 105 macro lens and a motordrive. In addition, she writes a nightly Bug Squad blog, featuring insects and the people who study them. Since she began writing the blog on Aug. 6, 2008 on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) site, she has posted every single weeknight, including holidays and vacations, "not missing a day," Mussen noted. Now nearing 1000 entries, Bug Squad has received some 2.7 million hits. Garvey also shares photos on Flickr, primarily insects. Her Flickr account now includes more than 22,000 photos.
Garvey and her work are featured in a four-page article in the June edition of the American Bee Journal.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894