We’ve had a number of people stand out in this category over the last year but my mind eventually came to rest on two people that have done substantial work in organizing and/or getting out to many events. These two people stand as great examples of the RASC fulfilling the public education portion of its mandate. Whether it’s an event in the city, just outside of town, or well outside of town, they had their hands up many times to either join or be the lead at the event. It is for these efforts that I award the George Moores Memorial award for Public Education to two deserving members, Linda Mahoney and Clayton Knoll.

He is one of the “old timers” in the Centre, having been around since shortly after I was born, His enthusiasm is obvious. Each month he rakes through all the noise on the web and pulls out many interesting items for review at our meetings. While some of us have seen some of the stories, there are many others who benefit from the astronomical tidbits he presents, and it’s for this effort that he is being recognized.

This individual has taken on the daunting task of creating a brand new astronomy club for Camrose. Such an endeavour is time consuming, very impressive and shows a real commitment to public education. He has already put on a couple of public star nights in Camrose and even though the club is in its fledgling stages, I am sure that with this individual at the helm, the club will grow over the years. This year’s George Moores Award for Excellence in Public Education goes to Colin Peart.

This was a very easy choice this year. This group of people spent hundreds of hours organizing and volunteering their time for several events over the year. Without them, the events would not have been the incredible success they were. Through their monumental efforts, the International Year of Astronomy was a rousing success for Edmonton and brought Astronomy to the forefront for many Edmontonians. It is my great pleasure to present this year’s George Moores Memorial Award for Excellence in Public Education to the IYA Committee and volunteers consisting of: Orla Aaquist, Cornelia Blunck, Harris Christian, Patrick Earl, Frank Florian, Sheldon Helbert, Doug Hube, Sherrilyn Jahrig, Franklin Loehde, Bruce McCurdy, Sharon Morsink, Ross Sinclair, Massimo Torri, and Luca Vanzella.

To recognize the efforts and hundreds of hours of every one of you that volunteered for an IYA event, I had a special certificate created for the IYA Volunteers that can perhaps hang in the Observatory. So in effect, everyone in the club can say they received this award this year. Great job everyone, and thank you!

This is another award where the efforts of a particular member have been overlooked. This member has been a fixture of our sidewalk astronomy efforts for many years. Except when scheduled to work, he always signs up for Astronomy Day and other sidewalk astronomy events. He has even been known to take the initiative of setting up his telescope on the Promenade on nice evenings to share the skies with passers-by. He is always willing to let others take a peek through his eyepiece and to explain what they are seeing. In all the years he has been doing this, he’s certainly provided many Galileo Moments to members of the public.

As it is now the International Year of Astronomy with one of the key initiatives to encourage more Galileo Moments it seems fitting to present the George Moores Award for Excellence in Public Education to Larry Wood.