ABC’s Botanical Excellence Awards were founded in 2006. They are presented each year at the American Botanical Celebration, which takes place in conjunction with the Natural Products Expo West/ Nutracon conference. Recipients are chosen based on their contributions to the herbal and botanical community during the previous year.
2022 Award Recipients:
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Guido F. Pauli, PhD
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Max Zeller Söhne AG
ABC Champion Award: Steven Foster
Fredi Kronenberg Excellence in Research and Education in Botanicals for Women’s Health Award: Gail Mahady, PhD
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Reference/technical category: A History of the Korean Ginseng Industry
Consumer/popular category:The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Emily Ruff
Steven Foster Botanical Conservation and Sustainability Award: United Plant Savers
2021 Award Recipients:
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Paula N. Brown, PhD
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Swedish Herbal Institute (SHI) and Founder and Chairman Georg Wikman
ABC Champion Award: Jerry Cott, PhD
Fredi Kronenberg Excellence in Research and Education in Botanicals for Women’s Health Award: Tori Hudson, ND
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Christopher Hobbs's Medicinal Mushrooms: The Essential Guide: Boost Immunity, Improve Memory, Fight Cancer, Stop Infection, and Expand Your Consciousness
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Michael McGuffin
Watch ABC's 16th Annual Botanical Excellence Awards Celebration by clicking the video above.
2019 Award Recipients:
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Professor Rachel Mata, PhD
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Jaguar Health/Napo Pharmaceuticals
ABC Champion Award: Thomas Brendler
Fredi Kronenberg Excellence in Research and Education in Botanicals for Women’s Health Award: Dr. Mary L. Hardy
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Flora of the Voynich Codex: An Exploration of Aztec Plants
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: "Fire Cider Three" Mary Blue, Katheryn Langelier, Nicole Telkes
2018 Award Recipients:
ABC Champion Award: Jim Emme, NOW Health Group
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: GW Pharmaceuticals
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Linnea & Larry Wardwell
James A. Duke Botanical Literature Award: Dr. Dennis J. McKenna for his work — Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs: 50 Years of Research, Volumes I and II
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Professor Otto Sticher, PhD
Fredi Kronenberg Award for Excellence in Botanicals for Women’s Health: Aviva Romm, MD
2017 Award Recipients:
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Pharmatoka SAS.
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Jon Benninger, vice president of Informa Exhibitions’ Global Health & Nutrition Network.
ABC Champion Award: Dick Griffin, Grifcon Enterprises and Griffin Insurance Services, and his consulting work with R-T Specialty, LLC.
James A. Duke Botanical Literature Award: in Reference and Consumer Book Categories: Chinese Medicinal Plants, Herbal Drugs and Substitutes: An Identification Guide, and, Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage.
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Professor Raphael Mechoulam, PhD, an Israeli organic chemist and the “father of cannabis research.”
Fredi Kronenberg Award for Excellence in Botanicals for Women’s Health: Tieraona Low Dog, MD, a highly respected expert in integrative medicine and women’s health.
2016 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: K. Hüsnü Can Başer, PhD, and Gerhard Buchbauer, PhD for their work — Handbook of Essential Oils: Science, Technology, and Applications, 2nd edition
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Her Excellency Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, President of the Republic of Mauritius
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Brassica Protection Products LLC
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Ikhlas Khan, PhD
ABC Champion Award: Josef Brinckmann, medicinal plants research fellow at Traditional Medicinals
2015 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Jane Buckle, PhD, RN for her work — Clinical Aromatherapy: Essential Oils in Healthcare, 3rd edition
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: John Thor Arnason, PhD is a professor biology at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: MediHerb of Warwick, Australia
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Michael Tierra, LAc, OMD, AHG
ABC Champion Award: Ed Smith, medical herbalist and co-founder of Herb Pharm
2014 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Nancy J. Turner, PhD for her two-volume work — Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014)
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Harry H.S. Fong, PhD is professor emeritus of pharmacognosy in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC)
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Soho Flordis International (SFI)
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Loren D. Israelsen, President of the United Natural products Alliance (UNPA)
ABC Champion Award: Terry Lemerond, Founder and President of EuroPharma, Inc.
2013 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Kerry Bone and Simon Mills for Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy: Modern Herbal Medicine, 2nd edition
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Gordon M. Cragg, PhD, former chief of the National Cancer Institute's Natural Products Branch; current Special Volunteer at the National Institutes of Health
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Wakunaga
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Sara Katz
2012 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award (Reference and Technical Books Category): Rainer W. Bussmann, PhD, and Bruce E. Ponman for Medicinal Plants and the Legacy of Richard E. Schultes
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award (Consumer and Popular Books Category): Martin A. Lee for Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational, and Scientific
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Prof. De-an Guo, PhD, director of the State Engineering Laboratory for Traditional Chinese Medicine Standardization Technology and director of the Shanghai Research Center for TCM Modernization at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Horphag Research
Mark Blumenthal Herbal Community Builder Award: Rosemary Gladstar
2011 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award (Reference and Technical Books Category): The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia for Botanical Pharmacognosy: Microscopic Characterization of Botanical Medicines, edited by senior editor Roy Upton
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award (Consumer and Popular Books Category): Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD, and Debora Yost for Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Prof. Djaja Doel Soejarto, PhD, of the University of Illinois – Chicago
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Bioforce AG
2010 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Aviva Romm, MD, for Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Prof. A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD, the Jack L. Beal Professor and Chain in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy in the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State University
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: New Chapter, Inc
2009 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Botanical Literature Award: Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi and Tony Willis for An Oak Spring Herbaria: A Selection of the Rare Books, Manuscripts and Works of Art in the Collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon
Norman R. Farnsworth Botanical Research Award: Prof. Rudolf Bauer, PhD, head of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Graz in Austria
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Bionorica AG
2008 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: David J. Mabberley, PhD, for Mabberley’s Plant Book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, Their Classifications, and Uses, 3rd edition
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Ikhlas A. Khan, PhD, professor of pharmacognosy at the University of Mississippi
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Indena, SpA, Milan, Italy
2007 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Google Book Search
Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award: Prof. Hildebert Wagner, PhD, of the University of Munich
Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award: Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals
ABC Lifetime Achievement Award: Chinese botanist Dr. Shiu-ying Hu
2006 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Prof. Eberhard Teuscher of Germany for Medicinal Spices: A Handbook of Culinary Herbs, Spices, Spice Mixtures and Their Essential Oils
Norman R. Farnsworth Botanical Research Award: Prof. Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD, Laing Chair in Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter & Plymouth, United Kingdom
2005 Award Recipients:
James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award: Simon Mills and Kerry Bone for The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety
Norman R. Farnsworth Botanical Research Award: Dr. Joseph M. Betz, Director of the Dietary Supplements Methods and Reference Materials Program at the Office of Dietary Supplements