Milwaukee Journal Sentinel outdoors editor Paul A. Smith received the 2025 Joan Wulff Enduring Excellence Award Aug. 21 at the Outdoor Writers Association of America’s annual conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The story was included in the Sept. 7 2025 issue of the Journal Sentinel. According to the piece:
Previously named the Excellence in Craft Award, the Wulff Award was initiated in 1971 to honor an OWAA member “for outstanding effort in upholding the OWAA Creed and continued excellence in craft.” The recipient is selected by past Wulff winners in consultation with the OWAA Awards Committee chair and immediate past president.
Dan Small, of Westby, who was the 2019 winner and longtime host of the “Outdoor Wisconsin” program on Milwaukee Public Television, presented Smith with the award in Chattanooga.
Other past winners include Nash Buckingham, Curt Gowdy, Grits Gresham, Gene Hill, Nick Lyons and Patrick McManus.
A Racine native and Carthage College graduate, Smith has covered Wisconsin outdoors for 31 years. That includes working as an outdoors writer for The Journal Times of Racine from 1994-2007, and as outdoors editor for the Journal Sentinel from 2008 until the present.
The nation’s largest and oldest outdoor writing group, OWAA will host its 2026 annual convention in Madison.
