The medal's obverse bears a black-crowned night heron shown from behind, its head turned to the right, perching on a slender branch; concave circle behind bird's head is suggestive of the moon.
The reverse depicts a perching bird, a leafed branch overhead, looking downward to the left with its wings lifted about to fly. Across, Brookgreen / Gardens / SOUTH / CAROLINA; signed at bottom right, HW
Heidi Wastweet enjoyed Brookgreen Gardens' Artist-in-Residence program in 2015 and sketched the native herons during visits to the Cypress Aviary of the Lowcountry Zoo.
Heidi Wastweet won the American Medallic Sculpture Association's American Medal of the Year Award 2018 for this design. It took three rounds of voting before her medal beat out over 40 other designs that had been submitted.
The almost square medal measures 75.8mm x 76.3mm and was struck in bronze. The mintage is reported to be around 1,000 pieces.
References: BG 45