The time has come. Earlier this month, three outstanding geocachers were nominated for March 2015’s Geocacher of the Month award. A winner has been chosen, but first, let’s take a look at the nominees.

Schlurie is famous in Rheinland-Pfalz for creating fun and inspiring geocache hides. His particular specialty is birdhouse caches, which have generated a lot of “WOW” moments for geocachers over the years.

Fivebales is a geocaching team from Idaho, whose behind-the-scenes work for an amazing annual Mega Event and their local geocaching organization has gone a long way in strengthening the local geocaching community.

chuck80196 is always willing to help another geocacher out, and if you know him he is probably number one  on your PAF (Phone A Friend) list. He has over 880 FTFs (first-t0-finds) and of late holds back to allow others the chance to get their first FTF…especially if he has already gotten his geocache for the day.

Although it’s tough, there has to be a winner. Say congratulations to the March 2015 Geocacher of the Month,

Schlurie!

Our March 2015 Geocacher of the Month is based in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Schlurie sets an incredible example as a geocacher maker, maintainer, and finder. His contributions to the local geocaching community are best described by local geocachers, like Geo-Tootles, who sing his praises:

“There are lots of cachers outside in the woods, searching for caches, for great and for special moments. But without having creative owners these experiences would be reduced to a minimum. Schlurie spent months of crafting new hides, this time with an incredible range of different bird-houses to let cachers smile and especially children laugh. Next to that he had to organize everything else with the local forestry commision office to determine the spots for placing the hides. All that time he could have spent for searching caches by himself, but statistic seem not important for him, much more important is giving other cachers a great time during their trips. Being that unselfish is the reason for my wholehearted vote. And even if he will not be decorated with this little award … every single cacher in our area will know exactly that he will look forward to the next Schlurie-caches.”

Schlurie’s birdhouse geocaches have garnered a lot of attention (and favorite points) from geocachers far and wide. One needs only to read the last few logs on his cache, “VHT 11 schlüsselfertiges Mehrfamilienhaus,” to get a sense of how carefully crafted his hides are. This particular cache earned 75 favorite points in less than two months.

As a geocache finder, Schlurie goes to great lengths — and heights — to sign a logbook. He’s found a whopping 440 T5 (terrain 5) geocaches.

In recognition of his contributions to geocaching, Schlurie will receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ, which includes the earned, never-for-sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin.

Send your congratulations to Schlurie!

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor next month, simply fill out this webform. You’ll need to include the following information:

• Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
• A picture of the nominee
• Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Featured Geocacher of the Month

Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Once Geocaching HQ has received the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so that we might learn from each other.