Birch Aquarium earned a national marketing honor for the campaign that helped draw record crowds to its newest exhibit.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) named Birch Aquarium's promotion of the Adam R. Scripps Living Seas Gallery a "Significant Achievement" in its 2026 Marketing Excellence Award program, the aquarium announced Wednesday, Oct. 7. The gallery opened in May 2025.
The La Jolla aquarium competed in the under-$250,000 campaign budget category. Out of 96 applications across all AZA award categories, 42 projects received recognition.
The AZA presented the awards at its annual conference in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 30. Top honors in the same category went to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, for its "Dino Park Zoo" campaign.
A four-person team
Executive Director Harry Helling credited the aquarium's four-person marketing and communications team: Director of Marketing and Communications Beth Downing Chee, Digital Marketing and Communications Specialist Alex Feltes, Media Relations Specialist Joanna Volavka and Senior Graphic Designer and Photographer Jordann Tomasek.
"I am incredibly proud of the creativity, strategic thinking and hard work that our relatively small marketing team brought to this campaign, competing alongside organizations with significantly larger teams and resources," Helling said in the aquarium's announcement.
The team built the Living Seas campaign around three taglines: "Where Curiosity Comes to Life," "Where Wonder Comes to Life" and "Where Weird Comes to Life."
Record attendance followed
The campaign coincided with a record-setting year. Birch Aquarium welcomed 603,670 guests during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in July. That was the aquarium's highest annual total and its first time surpassing 600,000 visitors.
The 600,000th guest was part of a family visiting from Atlanta, welcomed by staff at the end of June.
AZA President and CEO Dan Ashe called the recognition well-earned, saying it reflects the best work in the global zoo and aquarium community. The AZA, founded in 1924, accredits 255 zoos, aquariums and related facilities in 12 countries.
