In 2012, Prof Wingfield was awarded the prestigious Johanna Westerdijk Award by the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) (Fungal Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands), and in November he also received an honorary DSc degree from the University of British Columbia.

He has published widely on the topic of tree health in more than 600 research papers and five books and as an invited speaker he has made numerous prestigious presentations globally. He has served in many distinguished positions and has received numerous awards and honours for contributions to education, research and industry in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. Based on these contributions, he has been elected as a fellow of scientific societies, including the Royal Society of South Africa, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and the American Phytopathological Society. He is one of the few honorary members of the Mycological Society of America.

The award will be presented to Prof Wingfield at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 25 May 2013.