Points of Distinction

Barry Fitzgerald, associate professor of design at the University of Kansas, has been selected for “Best Illustrators Worldwide 2010/2011.” His work will be included in a volume published by Lüerzer’s Archive Inc. this spring.

Fitzgerald submitted work for the competition late last year. His work was selected from more than 6,000 submissions from more than 1,100 artists around the globe. Lüerzer’s, a publishing company that produces books and magazines dedicated to visual communications, selected Fitzgerald’s piece “Spring.”

A frozen fountain of plastic water bottles created by a University of Kansas sculpture graduate has been named one of the best public artworks in the United States and Canada.

Americans for the Arts, a leading nonprofit organization that advocates for the arts, cited “Frozen Assets,” created by Matthew Farley, as one of 40 of the year’s best public artworks in its 2010 Public Art Year in Review project. It is the only national award that specifically recognizes public art projects.

The works — in 29 cities in 15 states – were chosen from more than 300 entries and reflect “the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2009,” the group said.

Donald Worster, the Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor of U.S. History at the University of Kansas, received the Scottish Book of the Year Award for his biography “A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir” from the Scottish Arts Council. The award is funded by the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.

Worster will receive 30,000 British pounds in recognition of his literary talent and the significance of his biography, which positions Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, as a national icon for Scotland and a figure of global significance for concern about the environment.