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2005 ASP Annual Award Winners

Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach Award
Mary Lou Whitehorne
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Mary Lou Whitehorne has been selected to receive the 2005 Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach Award, which honors outstanding educational outreach by amateur astronomers to K-12 children and the interested lay public. Whitehorne has a long history of public outreach and education. She volunteered for years at the former Halifax Planetarium, organizing, promoting, and producing regular weekly programs for the public and school audiences. She trained more than 200 teachers to use the StarLab planetarium—used to teach 8000 to 10000 school children each year—and continues to participate in teacher workshops. She made regular appearances on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s morning show as the “science and space person.” She has volunteered for many organizations, such as the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry, Girl Guides of Canada, Discovery Center, and others.

Whitehorne has also served on the Advisory Board for the Canadian Astronomical Society Education and Outreach Initiative. But perhaps her most remarkable contribution is the book SkyWays, an astronomy handbook for teachers that was published last year by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Astronomy programs in schools across Canada will benefit from this wonderful accomplishment and from Whitehorne’s continuing work in and enthusiasm for education and public outreach.