*** Nominations are now closed for 2017. Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination.***

The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) is accepting nominations for the 2017 UK awards to celebrate biological recording and information sharing.

These awards have been developed by the National Biodiversity Network, the National Forum for Biological Recording and the Biological Records Centre.

Following the success of the last two years’ awards, we are excited by the prospect of even more nominations for amazing people in 2017!

Award categories

We have made one change to the awards, we’ve added a separate Adult Newcomer Award, so now there are six categories:

  • Gilbert White Youth Award for terrestrial and freshwater wildlife
  • Gilbert White Adult Award for terrestrial and freshwater wildlife
  • David Robertson Youth Award for marine and coastal wildlife
  • David Robertson Adult Award for marine and coastal wildlife
  • Lynne Farrell Group Award for wildlife recording
  • Adult Newcomer Award

Nominations

If you, or your organisation, know of any individuals or any groups of people that have made an outstanding contribution, make sure you nominate them for the relevant award.

The awards committee will consider the significance of the contribution (voluntary or otherwise) made to biological recording and/or improving our understanding of the UK’s biodiversity. This could include filling geographic or taxonomic gaps in our knowledge, encouraging and facilitating participation, verifying records, teaching or mentoring recorders, or creating and sharing tools and resources to support biological recording and increasing participation.

Please include as much relevant information as possible, under the various headings, on how your nominee is making a difference and the impact of their involvement in biological recording.

You can nominate the same person for different Award categories using a separate nomination form for each Award category.  If you wish to nominate more than one person or group please use a separate nomination form for each nominee. You can even nominate yourself!

Please send your completed nomination form to:  support@nbn.org.uk

Download the Gilbert White Youth Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Gilbert White Adult Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the David Robertson Youth Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the David Robertson Adult Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Lynne Farrell Group Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Adult Newcomer Award Nomination Form 2017 (Editable MS Word document)

Important dates

Nominations open on 3rd May and close on 31st July 2017.

This year, the five short-listed nominees from each award category will be announced on 29 September, giving us the opportunity to recognise the achievements of more biological recorders than in previous years.

The winners will be announced at a special ceremony that is part of the National Biodiversity Network’s annual conference in November.

Sponsors

We are delighted that three organisations – Opticron, Paramo and the Field Studies Council (FSC) – are supporting these awards this year.

Opticron is generously sponsoring the prizes for the Gilbert White Youth Award, the David Robertson Youth Award and the Adult Newcomer Award.

 

Paramo is generously sponsoring the prizes for the Gilbert White Adult Award and the David Robertson Adult Award.

The Field Studies Council (FSC) is generously sponsoring the prize for the Lynne Farrell Group Award.

Help us publicise these Awards!

Please help us spread the word about the 2017 UK Awards for Biological Recording and Information Sharing.  To make it easier for you, we have developed a Social Media Kit that you might like to use.  Of course you are welcome to edit our suggestions, as you see fit!  You might also like to use this photo (copyright Mike Beard).

Rules of the Awards

  • The National Biodiversity Network Trust will make the awards annually.
  • Nominations may be made by anyone (including people and organisations that are not Network members), and you may even nominate yourself.
  • Individuals, groups of people or entire organisations are eligible for the awards.
  • The Awards committee, chaired by the NBN Senior Communications Officer, will decide on the winners each year. The Committee will include the Chair of the NBN Board of Trustees, the NBN Patron, the CEO of the NBN and representatives of the Biological Records Centre and National Forum for Biological Recording.
  • Nominations open on 1st May and close on 31st July 2017.
  • The winners will be notified by mid-October and invited to attend the awards ceremony.

John Sawyer NBN Open Data Award

As in the last two years, the NBN will once again be determining the winner of the above award, which has been created to “recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution of NBN Data Partners in achieving the vision of the NBN in collecting and sharing biological data openly to educate and inform”.

Using the criteria below, the NBN Secretariat will identify one Data Partner deserving of the John Sawyer NBN Open Data Award in 2017.

Criteria for the John Sawyer NBN Open Data Award:

  • NBN membership – Organisation must be a member of the NBN
  • Currency – The mean age of the data
  • Resolution – Organisations that make their records available at 100 m resolution or better
  • Licence – The data must be licensed with either a CC BY, CC0 or OGL licence

The winner of the Award will be notified by the end of October and invited to attend the awards ceremony in November.

N.B. Nominations cannot be made for the John Sawyer NBN Open Data Award.

Previous Years’ Awards

UK Award Winners 2016

UK Award Winners 2015