NATIONAL TARTAN DAY AWARD--Duncan A. Burce of New York City was the recipient of the first National Tartan Day Award, presented on behalf of The Scottish Coalition at a reception and dinner at the Williamsburg Lodge, Williamsburg, Virginia, on Friday evening, March 21, 2003.  The award ceremony was the opening event in the Eighth Annual Scottish Symposium which is presented annually under the auspices of The Caledonian Foundation USA, Inc.  Chairman of the Foundation, The Earl of Dalkeith, arrived from Dumfriesshire, Scotland for the Symposium and welcomed onferees from around the USA.

     Bruce is the author of two books regarding Scottish heritage and the contributions of Scots and Scots-Americans to the U.S. and to the world.  His first book, THE MARK OF THE SCOTS, involved more than 20 years of continuous research, and his second book THE SCOTTISH 100 was a History Book Club selection.

     THE MARK OF THE SCOTS is credited with the rekindling of interest in and appreciation of Scots and Scots-Americans, as a result of which, hundreds of thousands of Americans of Scottish background have taken a new interest in their Scottish forebears.

     The Tartan Day Award was presented to Duncan Bruce by Robert W. Murdoch of Pittsburgh (PA), National Chairman of Tartan Day.

     Duncan Bruce was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He is the grandson of three Scottish immigrants.    Bruce is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He is a member of the board of the American-Scottish Foundation, Inc, and the St. Andrew's Society of the State of New York and is chairman of that organizations's 250th anniversary celebration, which will take place in 2006.  Mr. Bruce is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and is one of the few Americans to receive a grant of arms from the Lyon Court in Edinburgh.  He was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1998.