Mum was a highly regarded Honorary Vice-President of SES, a keen amateur photographer and participant in many of SES Founder John Blashford-Snell's expeditions. We know that she would be incredibly proud of this Award carrying her name, an Award that has been wonderfully supported by our friends and family since 2017.

Elodie Sandford Explorers are amateur photographers who partake in adventurous and innovative projects that demonstrate how their photography will be of real benefit to the people, environment, wildlife, fauna or flora targeted by the expedition.

Last year's winner was Reza Saputra. He won our award for his Bird's Head Peninsula Orchids expedition, which he is currently on.

Reza works as a Forest Ecosystem Specialist and lives in the first conservation province in the world, ie West Papua, Indonesia. His research is focused on the conservation of orchid species, often involved with fundamental-for-conservation research such as taxonomy, conservation assessment, ecology and in-situ conservation areas management. He has published several books and scientific articles on the diversity and conservation of plants, particularly orchids.

Reza's expedition will explore the centre of the Bird’s Head New Guinea pristine forest, the western slope of Mts. South Tamrau Nature Reserve, never explored by botanists or naturalists. Reza will be photographing orchids and their habitat, as well as preserving material for herbarium samples, in order to write species descriptions and illustrations for the ‘Orchids of Bird's Head Peninsula’ book project.

We were very taken by Reza's expedition as Mum was particularly fond of orchids. We are trying not to get too excited, but there is a possibility that an orchid could be named after Mum, which would be incredibly special.

As you know, Sue and I are very proud of this Award, of our past winners, and the work of SES and the Awards Committee, some of them past recipients of SES Explorer Awards. Eleanor Flatt won our award in 2018, and as we (nor Reza) were unable to attend the presentation evening last year, Eleanor received the award on his behalf and there are a few photos of the Oscars of Exploration evening in the gallery.

If you feel able to support us, no matter how big or small, may we ask that you do so as soon as possible. We are aiming to collect all donations by 1 May. Donations received after this date will not be eligible for this year's Award and will be carried forward to the 2025 Award.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely yours,

Paul and Sue