The Society of American Travel Writers has awarded the Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation with the prestigious Phoenix Award, presented annually to individuals and organizations who have made significant achievements in conservation and preservation of tourism-related sites. The award was presented at a ceremony held at the Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead December 12.
The travel writers group noted that the Foundation was responsible for restoring the Macphail Homestead, which ten years ago was close to collapse. The small community of Orwell spearheaded a campaign, pulling together government dollars and donations that allowed the site to develop into a thriving museum/study centre. Workshops attract artists, writers and gardeners, and the Macphail Woods Project, created by the Foundation and other groups, manages 100 acres of woods and streams in a program monitoring forest biodiversity for the Smithsonian Institution.
The Phoenix Award is a special honour for the Foundation, as Sir Andrew Macphail was not only a distinguished author, professor, medical doctor and scholar, but he contributed many stories to newspapers during his world travels.
The Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) is the pre-eminent professional organization of travel communicators of the United States and Canada, one of whose purposes is to encourage the conservation and preservation of travel resources worldwide. The group announced five Phoenix award winners at their annual convention at Banff, Alberta, on October 28, 1999.
Carol Horne, Manager of Publicity for Tourism PEI was on hand for the award ceremony and noted, "it's a great honour to be selected by such a prestigious group. The Sir Andrew Macphail Foundation has done fine work at the homestead; it provides an excellent outlet for activities promoting conservation and preservation in Prince Edward Island. The recognition they are receiving here is well-deserved."
The Phoenix Award was conceived in 1969 ,and the link between travel writing and conservation efforts is promoted through the awards ceremony. Michael Frome, Committee Member of SATW, determines the future of the awards in this text: "Tourism and environmentalism are not incompatible. They hold much in common. We should seek to identify and merge the common goals in both. My hope is that leaders on both sides— those of the tourist industry and the environmental movement — through determined efforts and cooperation will recognize their opportunity and show the way to the protection of the treasures of nature and human culture for true inspiration and recreation. Let us prove that tourism belongs to a healthy environment, and let us save the romance in writing about them both."