Bushnell Recognizes Andrew McKean with Lifetime Achievement Award

Bushnell has recognized Andrew McKean with the 2016 Bill McRae Lifetime Achievement Award. The Bill McRae Lifetime Achievement Award was established by Bushnell to honor the legendary writer and photojournalist for the vast contributions he made to the optics and outdoor industry throughout his 50-year career. Introduced in 2011, the annual award was created to recognize McRae and the journalists who have made a profound impact in the industry.

As Editor-in-Chief of Outdoor Life, and the leader of the magazine's optics test team, McKean is regarded throughout the optics industry as both one of its toughest critics and one of its most outspoken champions. His evaluations of optics and ability to explain their merits and shortcomings in plain language, have earned him a reputation as a leading expert among his peers and millions of hunters.

Under the tutelage of Bill McRae himself, McKean has developed the most rigorous and unbiased testing protocol of riflescopes, binoculars and spotting scopes in outdoor media. Year in and year out, Outdoor Life's readers eagerly anticipate the magazine's annual Optics Test and use it to help them make informed decisions when purchasing new binoculars and scopes.

McKean's expertise is derived a career that has circled the globe in pursuit of game. His journey to the helm of one of America's most venerable outdoor publishing brands began on the Missouri farm where he was raised and learned to hunt, and included stops at small-town weekly newspapers, regional outdoor magazines and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Along the way, he honed a skill for storytelling that is unrivaled. McKean succeeds not only in bringing his audience along on his adventures, but also in educating them about the people and the natural world he encounters and the equipment he uses.

In addition to the lifetime achievement award, Bushnell endowed a scholarship at the University of California, Davis for students pursuing a degree in optical science and engineering. The $7,500 annual scholarship at UC Davis, a nationally renowned optics institution, was the College of Engineering's first corporate-sponsored scholarship named for an individual. For more information, visit bushnell.com.