BCRA > Information > National Caving Awards

There are now several of what could be called the national caving awards. some are awarded by BCRA or subsidiary bodies; others are independent of BCRA. These awards are usually announced at the annual caving conference - Hidden Earth. General information on each award is given below, whilst list of the rules and prizewinners are available on the Hidden Earth web site.

(If you came here looking for information about awards of grant money for research projects, please try info.html#grant_aid).

The Tratman Award is presented annually by the Ghar Parau Foundation, a charity associated with BCRA, for the best contribution to British speleology in print. This can be in the form of an article, report or book. It was first awarded in 1979. Contact: Ghar Parau Enquiries. Award: £50.

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
Debate on proposed revision of rules (scroll down)
 

The GPF also issues the Alex Pitcher Award. Alex Pitcher was a young caver who became lost on an expedition to the Gouffre Berger in the late 1980s. His memorial fund was established to support young cavers going on their first expedition. It is usually put towards training costs for such individuals, for example in SRT. One or two awards are made each year, of the order of £100 each

The Arthur Butcher Award is presented by the BCRA for, broadly speaking, "excellence in cave surveying". It was first awarded in 1988. Contact: Wookey. Award: £100 plus trophy to keep for one year

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
 

The Giles Barker Award is given jointly by Morgannwg CC and Red Rose CPC in recognition of excellence in any aspect of cave photography. It was first awarded in 1993. Contact: Chris Howes. Award: Lifetime trophy.

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
 

The Bryan Ellis Award is given by Pauline Ellis in memory of her late husband, Bryan Ellis, a former BCRA chairman and Administrator. It was first awarded in 2000. Contact: BCRA chairman. Award: £100. In 2008 This award was merged with Arthur Butcher award.

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
 

The CREG Award is presented by the BCRA's Cave Radio & Electronics Group for achievement in that field. It was first awarded in 2001. Contact: CREG chairman. Award: Prize worth around £50

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
 

This text is reproduced from BCRA Newsletter 6, April 2006

The Tratman Award is a small prize, given annually, for the best piece of speleological literature. It is awarded by the Ghar Parau Foundation, a subsidiary charity of BCRA. It has become apparent that nature and scope of the award needs to be re-addressed. One aspect for consideration is how publications are brought to the attention of the judges. Since the award could be given for a specific article in a magazine or caving club journal it may be un-reasonable to expect nominations to be feasible. Another aspect of the award which might currently be un-workable is that all BCRA publications and GPF expedition reports are supposed to be automatically considered. But it is difficult to devise an infallible method of guaranteeing that all such publications will reach the judges. (It is some years since the BCRA librarian was on the judges' panel and therefore able to bring a sub-stantial amount of caving literature to the attention of his fellow judges). Clearly, it can be appreciated that the judges need to be highly active in seeking out possible contenders for the award; and, perhaps, be accountable in some way for this activity.

And perhaps it would be appropriate to broaden the scope of the award? Perhaps the judges should now be considering web-based publications as well? These could range from on-line books (see Speleology 3, pp31-34 for some reviews) to personal web-logs and trip write-ups to which the readers of Speleology have also been introduced. One question to ask here is whether web-based publications (which could be subject to continual change) should be considered on an equal footing to more permanent media? But how will such work be brought to the attention of the judges: the Internet is a big place to search.

GPF is now seeking to revise and update the rules of the award to take into account the points raised in the present debate. Anyone wishing to participate as part of a small working group of interested people should get in touch with David Judson.

Recent award citations, as reported in Speleology magazine
Rules and list of past prize-winners
Proposed revisions to rules (pre-dates above discussion)