The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) has stopped accepting nominations for the 2018 UK Awards for Biological Recording and Information Sharing.

The deadline has now passed and nominations are closed.  The shortlisted Finalists were announced on 17 October 2018.

These awards have been developed by the National Biodiversity Network Trust, the National Forum for Biological Recording and the Biological Records Centre to celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups in our sector.

Following the success of the last three years’ awards, we are excited by the prospect of even more nominations for amazing people in 2018!

Award categories

There are six categories of awards:

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

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 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Gilbert White Adult Award Nomination Form 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the David Robertson Youth Award Nomination Form 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the David Robertson Adult Award Nomination Form 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Lynne Farrell Group Award Nomination Form 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Download the Adult Newcomer Award Nomination Form 2018 (Editable MS Word document)

Important dates

Nominations opened on 6 June and closed on 19 August 2018.

This year, the five short-listed nominees from each award category will be announced on 16 October, 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 on 21 November that is part of the National Biodiversity Network’s annual conference in Nottingham.

Sponsors

We are delighted that six organisations – Opticron, Paramo, the Field Studies Council (FSC), Nature Photographers Ltd, British Wildlife Publishing and Natural History Book Service – 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.

 

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

 

British Wildlife Publishing is generously sponsoring the prizes for the Gilbert White Youth Award runner-up and the David Robertson Youth Award runner-up.

 

Natural History Book Service is generously sponsoring the prizes for the Gilbert White Youth Award runner-up and the David Robertson Youth Award runner-up.

Help us publicise these Awards!

Please help us spread the word about the 2018 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 Natalie Harmsworth).

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 6 June and close on 31 July 2018.
  • 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 three 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 2018.

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 this 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 2017

UK Award Winners 2016

UK Award Winners 2015

 

Nominators’ and Nominees’ Contact Details

The privacy of Award nominators’ and nominees’ information is assured.  While we might contact the nominator again about the Awards in future years, we will not email any information about the NBN Trust’s other work to the nominator or nominee, unless we have been actively requested to.