The research that has won the TWS’ 2025 publication awards includes work on the responses of grizzly bears to low-level recreation, the management of black-tailed deer and how birds alter their flight due to artificial light at night.
The awards recognize excellence in scientific literature focused on wildlife biology and management issued within the last three years. The publications selected are characterized by originality of research or thought and a high scholastic standard in the manner of presentation.
The following publications and authors took this year’s prizes.
Jerry Emory won the biography/history category for his book George Meléndez Wright: The Fight for Wildlife and Wilderness in the National Parks. Jennifer Bonnell received an honorable mention for her work Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia.
The authored book category winner was Bryan Pijanowksi for his work Principles of Soundscape Ecology. Honorable mention in that category went to Scott Michael Brainerd and Torstein Storaas for their Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene: Perspectives from Norway.
For edited books, Jim Heffelfinger and Paul Krausman earned the win for their Ecology and Management of Black-tailed and Mule Deer of North America. Honorable mention went to Jean-Luc Cartron and Jennifer Frey for Wild Carnivores of New Mexico.
The winner for best paper went to Jennifer Grauer, Joshua Twining, Manigandan Lejeune, Jacqueline Friar, Krysten Schuler, David Kramer and Angela Fuller for their study “Parasite-mediated competition limits dominant cervid competitor,” published in Ecology Letters.
Votes were split evenly on the award for best student paper, which ended in a numerical tie. The authors of one paper were Elise Loggers, Andrea Litt, Kerry Gunther and Frank van Manen for their study, “Female and male grizzly bears differ in their responses to low-intensity recreation in a protected area,” published in The Journal of Wildlife Management.
The authors of the second winning study for the student paper award were Dylan Osterhaus, Kelley Boland, Abigail Lawson, Kyle Horton, Benjamin Van Doren, Patricia Cutler, Timothy Wright and Martha Desmond for “Nocturnal flight call monitoring reveals in-flight behavioral alteration by avian migrants in response to artificial light at night,” published in Biological Conservation.
Last but not least, Marie Gilbertson, Alison Ketz, Matthew Hunsaker, Daniel Walsh, Daniel Storm and Wendy Turner won the monograph category for their study, “White-tailed deer habitat use and implications for chronic wasting disease transmission,” published in Wildlife Monographs.
The awards will be presented at TWS’ Annual Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, starting Nov. 1.
