The SETI League, Inc. Press Release No. 05-04

SETI League Press Release

SETI League Announces 2005 Best Ideas Awards
For more information contact: Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director
(201) 641-1770, or email info_at_setileague_dot_org

Mountain View, CA.., 19 March 2005 -- The editors of The SETI League's scholarly journal Contact In Context tonight recognized three individuals for major contributions to the SETI literature. Honored with "Best Ideas Awards" this year at the annual CONTACT conference were conference organizers Jim Funaro and Joel Hagen, and science author Gerald D. Nordley. CONTACT, an informal gathering of artists, authors, educators, and social scientists, as well as SETI enthusiasts, has been held annually since 1983, but this is the first time their conference has hosted the Best Ideas Awards.

"The earliest Best Ideas Awards went to authors for a particular book or paper," stated Contact in Context editor Prof. Allen Tough. "Last year we expanded our scope. We chose The SETI League's entire website because it provides a nourishing forum for fresh bold ideas. This year we chose an entire conference." He then recognized Funaro and Hagen for their two decades of dedication and leadership, as founders and organizers of the popular CONTACT meetings. "The annual CONTACT conference is the best conference on this planet as a forum for innovative new ideas related to SETI and contact," noted Tough.

Nordley, a real-life rocket scientist, publishes extensively in the technical literature under his own name, and writes science fiction under the thinly disguised pseudonym of G. David Nordley. He received the journal's first Lifetime Achievement Award, for his extensive body of work in support of the efforts to achieve interstellar contact. Over the years, Nordley has produced poetry and paintings as well as technical articles, short stories, and a book. "He is widely known for his prompt, precise, blunt email messages whenever he detects thinking that is sloppy, unduly narrow, or short-term. He makes us think big," said Tough.

Largely using radio telescopes and optical telescopes, SETI scientists seek to determine whether humankind is alone in the universe. Since Congress terminated NASA's SETI funding in 1993, The SETI League and other scientific groups have privatized the research. Amateur and professional scientists interested in participating in the search for intelligent alien life, and citizens wishing to help support it, should email join_at_setileague_dot_org, check the SETI League Web site at http://www.setileague.org/, send a fax to +1 (201) 641-1771, or contact The SETI League, Inc. membership hotline at +1 (800) TAU-SETI. Be sure to provide us with a postal address to which we will mail further information. The SETI League, Inc. is a membership-supported, non-profit [501(c)(3)], educational and scientific corporation dedicated to the scientific Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

P.S. Tearsheets are always appreciated. Thank you.

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