Ningaloo awarded Whitley Commendation Award

Ningaloo: Australia’s Wild Wonder by Tim Winton with Cindy Lane has garnered a Whitley Commendation Award for Children’s Conservation Awareness. This is the second year in a row that Cindy Lane has received this honour for her illustrations.

Cindy Lane said she was grateful to have been part of the team bringing Tim Winton’s words to life. She said, ‘I’m deeply honoured that Ningaloohas won the Whitley Children’s Conservation Award. Spending time at Ningaloo for research was a real privilege, and immersing myself in this incredible place gave me a much deeper appreciation of this international treasure.’

Tim Winton said books like Ningaloo showed people what there was to fight for. Tim said, ‘I think it’s important that people know that there are places in the world that are still healthy and still wild. I think young people are much more attuned to the natural world and to the urgencies of our natural world than I was … I have great hope, and books like this are just ways of keeping that hope afloat.’

Awarded annually by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, the Whitley Awards are presented for outstanding publications that profile the unique wildlife of the Australasian region. They pay tribute to Gilbert Whitley, former Curator of Fishes at the Australian Museum and eminent ichthyologist.

In Ningaloo, Tim Winton and Cindy Lane dive into this incredible part of the world in the north of Western Australia. From enormous whale sharks to minuscule Cape Range millipedes, and from colourful coral reefs to muddy mangroves, their depictions of the biodiversity and interconnectedness of each distinctive ecosystem will inspire wonder and awe.