About the Award
The impacts of the oil and gas industry are visible across the United States: farms sliced by dangerous pipelines, neighborhoods invaded with fracked wells, towns choked by petrochemical emissions, streams littered with throwaway plastics, regions plagued by extreme weather and a changed climate. But hope abounds in the thousands of volunteers working in their communities and cherished places to document, report, and confront such fossil fuel harms.
To honor these environmental heroes, FracTracker Alliance created the annual Community Sentinel Award for Environmental Stewardship, now in its fifth year, to celebrate individuals whose noble actions exemplify the transformative power of caring, committed, and engaged people. In collaboration with a supportive lineup of sponsors and partners, the award is presented to multiple recipients at a festive reception before a group of fellow activists and others who champion a healthy, sustainable future. A special Youth Award will be presented to honor activists 21 years and younger.
Each awardee will receive $1,000 and will be recognized at an award ceremony and reception (date and location to be announced). In the event an activist has passed away in the last year, we would still like to recognize them for their efforts within a Legacy of Heroes presentation during the award ceremony.
The 2019 Community Sentinel Award program will soon be announced, including plans for a fall reception to be held Tuesday evening, October 22nd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event coincides with the oil and gas industry’s three-day Shale Insights Conference. It seems fitting and appropriate to recognize the fighters and victims of dirty energy and petrochemical development opposite the nearby perpetrators of the harms.
Please follow the link below if you would like to make a nomination.
Nominations for community sentinel awards will close on September 1st, 2019 at midnight EST.
Previous Sentinel Award Winners
2015
Dory Hippauf – Dallas, PA
Craig Stevens – Herndon, VA
Therese Vick – Raleigh, NC
2016
Alma Hasse – Fruitland, ID
Alex Lotorto – Milford, PA
Vera Scroggins – Brackney, PA
2017
Ranjana Bhandari – Arlington, TX
Frank Finan – Hop Bottom, PA
Ray Kemble – Montrose, PA
2018
Ellen Gerhart – Pennsylvania
Natasha Léger – Colorado
Rebecca Roter – of Pennsylvania, now Georgia
Youth award: Nalleli Cobo – California
FracTracker Alliance is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization registered in the United States.