The Kirkpatrick Medal

Images by wildlife and nature photographer Harvey Payne have appeared in many newspapers, magazines, books, and calendars including The New York Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, and America on My Mind. Payne is a retired attorney and serves as municipal judge in Pawhuska, Hominy, and Barnsdall, Oklahoma.

More than one hundred of his photos are included in a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Payne was crucial in the development of the Nature Conservancy’s Joseph H. Williams Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where he also served eighteen years as director. Currently he is the community relations coordinator for the preserve.

The Oklahoma City arts community might look quite different today had it not been for the late Nannine Jane “Nan” Quick Sheets. Artist, arts advocate, teacher, and museum director, Sheets held many titles and firsts throughout her life.

A pharmacist by education, she studied art in her free time, and after moving to Oklahoma City in 1916, began taking summer classes at the Broadmoor Academy of Fine Arts in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Her Oklahoma City home, “the Elms” was a salon for visiting artists and later was converted to an art gallery, which today is JRB Art at the Elms in the historic Paseo Arts District. Sheets served as director of the Oklahoma Art Center of the Works Progress Administration which she later turned into a museum.

Sheets was a member of numerous arts organizations and was inducted into the Royal Academy of Art and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. She also wrote about art for The Oklahoman newspaper and The Oklahoma Woman magazine.

Under his leadership, Governor Bill Anoatubby has worked to not only preserve but also share the Chickasaw culture, heritage, and language through artistic programs, learning opportunities, and a world-renowned cultural center in Ada, Oklahoma.

In his nearly four decades in office, Anoatubby has overseen the growth of the tribe, methodically constructing a diverse portfolio of businesses such as gaming, hospitality, tourism, banking, manufacturing, and chocolate. The income from these industries funds programs and services for Chickasaws that address aging, education, health care, and housing.

Anoatubby serves numerous civic and governmental organizations and is the recipient of countless awards for his dedication to not only his tribe and its heritage but to all Oklahomans. The Chickasaw Foundation funds nonprofit organizations in the state, ranging from the Ardmore Animal Clinic, Meals on Wheels of Norman, and the Rush Springs Volunteer Fire Department to the Oklahoma Literacy Coalition and Special Olympics Oklahoma.

Vocal music teacher Angela McKenna has devoted more than twenty years to helping her young students find their voices. Currently the choral director at Classen School of Advanced Studies in northeast Oklahoma City, McKenna leads diverse vocal choirs and guides her students to national recognition.

During the last two years, she has placed more than two hundred students in All-Region and All-State Choirs. In 2023 McKenna’s students swept all vocal spots for the All-State Jazz Ensemble.

She holds degrees in music education and educational leadership from the University of Central Oklahoma, as well as National Board Certification in education, the highest certification a teacher can earn. McKenna’s innovative teaching methods include advocating for the special needs community.

In addition, McKenna directs more than one hundred students in musical theater at Studio J Performing Arts Center in Edmond. She was named Edmond Public School Teacher of the Year in 2012, and a finalist for the 2013 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. She is a quarterfinalist for the 2025 GRAMMY Music Educator Award.

Ed Brocksmith co-founded Save the Illinois River in the early 1980s. STIR is the only nonprofit created for the preservation of the upper and lower Illinois River. It seeks to protect Flint Creek, Barren Fork Creek, and Tenkiller Lake, as well as their tributaries.

The Tahlequah, Oklahoma resident and his fellow citizens formed STIR in response to a permit that allowed the discharge of treated sewage into the Illinois River watershed by neighboring Fayetteville, Arkansas. This action led to a United States Supreme Court decision in 1992, Oklahoma v. EPA, that set in motion water quality rules to protect Oklahoma rivers from interstate water pollution.

Since that time, Brocksmith and STIR have worked tirelessly through laws and ordinances to ensure the continued protection of the scenic river in northeast Oklahoma. STIR members monitor water quality issues and follow the Oklahoma Legislature, Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, and other state and federal agencies.

He has years of experience as a professional communicator with Northeastern State University as director of media information services, as a radio news editor and director, and as bureau chief of Oklahoma’s first statewide radio network. In 2000, Brocksmith was inducted to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

As the deputy state historic preservation officer, Melvena Heisch has spent nearly forty years leading efforts to protect the built and archaeological environment by balancing a federal-state-local preservation partnership.

In addition to the National Register of Historic Places program, Heisch and her team at the State Historic Preservation Office oversaw programs ranging from assisting local governments with rehabilitation tax credits to working with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture to recognize families who have farmed or ranched on their properties for at least one hundred years.

Heish, who retired in 2017, dedicated her career to preserving, conserving, and protecting historically significant buildings and landscapes in Oklahoma. From an experimental wheat field at Oklahoma State University to Route 66 to the revitalization of downtown Oklahoma City, the imprint of Heisch’s work is evident across the state.

Heisch drafted the legislation that created the state’s historic rehabilitation tax credit that led to the resurrection of the Skirvin Hotel, the majestic anchor of Broadway and Park avenues in downtown Oklahoma City. To celebrate the centennial of the 1889 land run, Heisch created an annual statewide historic preservation conference that continued under her guidance for nearly thirty years.