Awards for the Presentation of Heritage Research 2008

Sponsored by the Royal Archaeological Institute, English Heritage, Cadw, Historic Scotland, the Environment and Heritage Service (an agency within DOE(NI), and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Republic of Ireland).

Purpose:

Archaeologists, buildings historians and others concerned with understanding and preserving our heritage spend much of their time and energy on research, which is published in a flood of monographs and articles in specialist journals. Much of this fascinating work remains unknown to the wider public, whose understanding and support are crucial to the preservation of our heritage.

The purpose of the award is to encourage researchers to present their research on British and Irish archaeology, historic buildings, and heritage conservation, to the wider public (as represented by those attending the British Association’s Festival of Science). Presentations should be centred on the research question and the evidence and chain or argument that lead to research findings, placing the question and findings in their wider context as appropriate.

Mechanisms and criteria:Three prizes are offered, an open first prize of £1500, a runner-up prize of £500, and an under-30 prize of £500. Entrants should send in a completed entry form (attached below), which includes a summary of their proposed presentation (maximum length 750 words; up to two figures may also be included), by Friday 2 May 2008 The criteria on which these will be judged will include the clarity and interest of the presentation to an informed but non-specialist audience, and the interest and quality of the research on which it is based.

Short-listed entrants will be selected and informed by late May (in time to be listed in the programme of the Festival of Science). Each short-listed entrant will give a presentation of 20 minutes to an audience at the Festival of Science in Liverpool during the week 6-11 September 2008. The criteria on which the presentations will be judged will include those given above, and, in particular, the quality of presentation to non-specialists; the audience will be invited to contribute to assessing the presentations. The awards will be presented at the end of the day by Julian Richards, who will chair the panel of judges.

Details:

• The research should have been completed within the past three years, and the entrant should either have carried out the work, or have been substantially involved in it.
• The sponsors intend to record the presentations in York and make them available through websites and other media.
• Non-UK nationals are eligible as long as the topic is research into British and Irish archaeology, historic buildings, or heritage conservation.
• British and Irish is taken as including the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.
• Entrants aged under 30 should give their date of birth on the entry form if they wish to be considered for an award in that category; all under-30 entries will also be considered as open award entries. The qualifying date for this purpose is the date of the awards session.
• The right not to award a prize is reserved if the judges feel that there is no entry of sufficient merit, or that the work presented breaches accepted professional ethical standards.
• The decisions of the judges will be final; no correspondence will be entered into in relation to the judging of individual entries.

If further clarification is needed, please either email Sebastian Payne or call him on 0207 973 3321.