UM Student Wins Prestigious Cartography Award

MISSOULA – University of Montana graduate student Zach Goodwin has won the prestigious Arthur B. Robinson Cartography Award for Best Printed Map for his rendering of the Bitterroot River watershed.

The highly competitive competition for this award, held by the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, is open to all mapmakers in the U.S. and Canada. Goodwin’s map will become part of the permanent collection of the U.S. Library of Congress, be presented at several conferences and be given to educators as an example of excellent map design. He also will receive a monetary award and a copy of Map Publisher software.

Goodwin, an environmental studies master’s student from Watkinsville, Georgia, is also working toward a certificate in geographic information systems science and technologies. He made the map for Advanced Cartographic Design, a UM geography class taught by Kevin McManigal.

 “Arthur B. Robinson is the father of American cartography,” McManigal said. “The mapping award in his name is judged against the best programs in the country. There is no higher honor for a student cartographer."

Goodwin said he is humbled and honored to receive the award, noting it was only possible thanks to a group effort.

“The map could not have been what it is without suggestions from Kevin and other students from his Advanced Cartographic Design course,” Goodwin said.

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Contact: Kevin McManigal, UM GIS science and technologies program coordinator, 406-243-6691, kevin.mcmanigal@mso.umt.edu.