Dara Seamus McAnulty (born 31 March 2004) is a naturalist, writer and environmental campaigner from Northern Ireland. He is the youngest ever winner of the RSPB Medal and received the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing in 2020 after being the youngest author to be shortlisted for the award.

Personal life

McAnulty was born in 2004 and lives with his family near the

Mourne Mountains The Mourne Mountains ( ; ), also called the Mournes or the Mountains of Mourne, are a predominantly granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountain in all of Ulster, Slieve Donard ...

, Northern Ireland. He attended

Shimna Integrated College Shimna Integrated College is an integrated secondary school based in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland. The all-ability school was founded in 1994 with the hope of integrating young people from both sides of Northern Ireland's religious di ...

, completing school in 2022, and has since studied natural sciences at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

. In mid-2021,

Monisha Rajesh Monisha Rajesh (born 1982) is a British journalist and travel writer. Early life Rajesh was born in Norfolk, England, the child of two Indian doctors. The family moved from Sheffield to Madras, India, in 1991. After two years they returned to En ...

reported in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' that McAnulty had left

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

after receiving abuse as a result of having raised concerns about

Kate Clanchy Kate Clanchy MBE (born 1965) is a British poet, freelance writer and teacher. Education and early life She was born in 1965 in Glasgow to medieval historian Michael Clanchy and teacher Joan Clanchy (née Milne). She was educated at George Wa ...

's descriptions of autistic students and students of colour in her book ''Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me''. his profile on X, formerly Twitter, states that he has been a member since June 2016. He is an ambassador for the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

and the

Jane Goodall Institute The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global non-profit wildlife and environment conservation organization headquartered in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1977 by English primatologist Jane Goodall and Genevieve di San Faustino (1919-2011). Th ...

Writings

His debut book ''Diary of a Young Naturalist'' which chronicles the turning of his fourteenth year, was released in May 2020. It details his intense connection to the natural world as an

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

teenager. He is the youngest ever author shortlisted for the

Wainwright Prize The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing and the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Glo ...

for UK Nature Writing, and he won the 2020 prize. He was also awarded the An Post Irish Book Award for Newcomer of the Year. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Award (Emerging Writer) and won the

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

for narrative non-fiction. He has written for ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

'', ''

'', has presented radio for

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

and has appeared on ''

Springwatch ''Springwatch'', ''Autumnwatch'' until 2022 and ''Winterwatch'', sometimes known collectively as ''The Watches'', are annual BBC television series which chart the fortunes of British wildlife during the changing of the seasons in the United Kin ...

'' and ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, Tom Heap, Ellie Har ...

''. He has also written and presented for BBC Radio 4's '' Tweet of the Day''. He was a part of "The People's Walk for Wildlife" organised by television naturalist

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series '' The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 t ...

. He is a vocal campaigner on environmental issues. In June 2021 McAnulty began writing a monthly nature column for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''.

Awards and recognition

McAnulty's first book, ''Diary of a Young Naturalist'', won the 2020 Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing, after being the youngest author to be shortlisted for the award. His second book, ''Wild Child'', was shortlisted for the 2022

for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation. He is also the youngest author to be long-listed for the 2020

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...

for non-fiction and for the shortlist for the 2020

Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards The Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards are annual literary awards presented by the Booksellers Association in the UK and Ireland since 2016. They are sponsored by National Book Tokens. History and administration The awards were launched at the 201 ...

, which he won in the non-fiction category. McAnulty was celebrated in "

Points of Light Points of Light is an international nonprofit, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Georgia, United States dedicated to engaging more people and resources in solving serious social problems through voluntary service. Each year, Points ...

" in 2018 by the

UK Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

for his work in connecting young people to nature. His campaigning work against

raptor persecution In the United Kingdom, raptor persecution is a crime against wildlife. The offence includes poisoning, shooting, trapping, and nest destruction or disturbance of Bird of prey, birds of prey. International context There is a long history of gam ...

and

biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in Biodiversity, b ...

earned him the RSPB Medal for Conservation in 2019: the award has been previously won by naturalists such as Sir

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

. McAnulty was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

(BEM) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to the environment and people with autism spectrum disorder.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcanulty, Dara 2004 births Living people 21st-century male writers from Northern Ireland 21st-century non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland Nature writers from Northern Ireland Environmentalists from Northern Ireland British non-fiction environmental writers Autistic writers Recipients of the British Empire Medal Autistic people from Northern Ireland Irish activists with disabilities British writers with disabilities Writers from County Down Place of birth missing (living people)