Last year, 7-year-old Yusuf Kose applied his artistic skills to colorful and eye-catching posters that share his concerns about the environment with the community. Middle schooler Matthew Nickle, 14, volunteered more than 350 hours at the DuPont Nature Center, teaching visitors, expanding its living classroom and caring for its delicately balanced saltwater tanks and their occupants. And 17-year-old Samuel Piascik gave his time to Delaware's Hooked on Fishing - Not on Drugs (HOF-NOD) program, teaching more than 200 children how to fish.

For their innovative ideas, good stewardship and concern for the natural world, Yusuf, Matthew and Samuel were honored by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control as Delaware’s 2009 Young Environmentalists of the Year.

If you know students like them who are putting their passions into projects that benefit our environment, you can nominate them for the 2010 Young Environmentalist of the Year Awards.

Open to Delaware students in grades 1 through 12, this annual awards program seeks nominees whose actions have resulted in the protection, restoration or enhancement of our state’s natural resources. Projects must have been completed between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, with nominations open from Saturday, May 1 to Tuesday, June 1, 2009.

Past honorees have also included students who have organized tree plantings, a household hazardous waste community collection day and school recycling programs; and students who have volunteered their time with the Delaware Nature Society, DNREC's Piping Plover Monitoring Program and the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute, among other organizations.

Anyone can nominate a deserving student – teachers, parents, classmates, club or group leaders – by filling out a nomination form and including letters, reports, photos or other documentation of the project.

Winners will be chosen in three categories: elementary grades 1-4, middle school grades 5-8 and high school grades 9-12, and each will receive a $100 U.S. savings bond and a gift certificate for a canoe, kayak or pontoon boat trip at one of Delaware’s State Parks. Winners will be honored in a special ceremony.

This is the 17th year for the awards program, which was established by DNREC colleagues and friends in honor of Dr. Edwin H. Clark II, who served as Secretary of DNREC from 1989 until 1993.

For more information, please contact Young Environmentalist Awards Coordinator Joanna Wilson in the DNREC Public Affairs Office at 302-739-9902, or by e-mail: joanna.wilson@state.de.us