WINNIPEG—June 22, 2010—International Institute for Sustainable Development associate Alanna Mitchell is the winner of the 2010 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment for her book: Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis.

Mitchell is the first book author to receive the Grantham Prize and the first Canadian entrant to win the US$75,000 prize, announced today by the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting. The prize is awarded annually to nonfiction work produced in the United States or Canada during the previous calendar year in all media.

"IISD is very proud of Alanna Mitchell's tremendous achievement and the valuable contribution she has made to further our understanding of the oceans' vulnerability to climate change and environmental degradation," said Franz Tattenbach, IISD president and CEO. 

Philip Meyer, chairman of the Grantham Prize Jury said, "Reading Alanna Mitchell convinces you that the ocean is at least as important as the atmosphere when we worry about climate change. You cannot put this book down without understanding that, for life on earth to continue as it is, the ocean from which we evolved must remain healthy."

Sunshine Menezes, executive director of Metcalf Institute and Grantham Prize administrator said, "Sea Sick clearly and eloquently explains the specific dangers facing global marine ecosystems. Mitchell faced her own demons to craft a story that showcases marine science and scientists in a balanced, accurate, and poetic fashion."

Published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart, Sea Sick was released in the United States by University of Chicago Press (October 2009). Sea Sick examines the current state of the world's oceans—describing an urgent yet little understood ecological crisis. Mitchell penned the 2010 Grantham Prize winner Sea Sick while joining the research teams of leading scientists in nine of the global oceans' hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening in the world's oceans. -ends-

For more information, please contact IISD media and communication officer Nona Pelletier, Phone: +1-(204)-958-7740, Cell: +1-(204)-962-1303.