John Thackray Medal 2013 – Call for nominations

Instituted in 2000 to commemorate the life and work of John Thackray, Past President of SHNH, the John Thackray Medal is awarded for a significant achievement in the preceding three years in the history of those areas of interest to the Society, that is the biological and earth sciences in the broadest sense.

Recognition may be for a piece of work completed (e.g. the cataloguing of an archive collection), a publication (book or journal article), exhibition etc. Recipients may be individuals, teams or institutions.

All SHNH members in good standing are invited to make nominations for the 2013 award using the form to be found on the SHNH Website under Awards/The John Thackray Medal. Nominations should be sent to the SHNH Honorary Secretary, with an accompanying letter.

Nominations must indicate the item and the producer to be nominated and include the name and contact details of the person submitting the nomination. Please include a brief statement on the nature of the significant achievement involved and describe how the Prize Committee can obtain supporting evidence, such as publication details or photographs of exhibitions, etc.  The Committee may ask for the loan of such evidence to support the Committee in its discussions.

The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2013.

SHNH Rules: 15.2 John Thackray Medal

(a) Individuals, teams, project groups and/or organisations and institutions demonstrating significant achievement in the previous three years in the field of the history and/or bibliography of natural history may be awarded the John Thackray Medal.

(b) Significant achievement may be recognised by the completion of a major piece of work or research (e.g. the cataloguing of an archive collection); the making available of collections and/or information in new and novel ways; a publication; an exhibition, etc.

(c) The Council will call for nominations annually by issuing a nomination form that will indicate a closing date.

(d) All the nominations will be reviewed by a Committee appointed by the Council of the Society. The decision of Council as to the recipient of the award is final.

(e) The award of the John Thackray Medal should take place at a General Meeting of the Society. All awards of this medal shall be reported to the membership in a timely fashion.

(f) Once submitted a nomination will be reconsidered annually during its period of eligibility.

2012: John Ray’s Cambridge Catalogue (1660), translated and edited by Philip H. Oswald and Chris D. Preston.  London: Ray Society, 2011.  ISBN 978-0903874434.  

2010: The Biodiversity Heritage Library, represented by Tom Garnett.

2009: Charlie Jarvis for his publication Order out of chaos: Linnaean plant names and their types.

2008: The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online Project at the University of Cambridge.

2006: Peter Marren for his book The New Naturalists (2nd Edition). London: Collins. 2005). ISBN: 0007197160.

2005: David E. Allen and Gabrielle Hatfield for their book Medicinal plants in folk tradition: an ethnobotany of Britain and Ireland. (Cambridge: Timber Press. 2004).

2004: The American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, USA) for the exhibition: “Stuffing Birds, Pressing Plants, Shaping Knowledge: Natural History in North America, 1730-1860,” together with web site, catalogue, accompanying educational materials, and programme of school events.

2003: Dr Clemency Fisher for the exhibition “The Earl & the Pussycat” and editing its associated publication A Passion for Natural History

2002: Mr E. W. Groves, Mr D. T. Moore and the late Professor T. G. Vallance for Nature’s Investigator. The diary of Robert Brown in Australia, 1801–1805.

2001: Professor A. Geus and Dr K. Schulze-Hagen for the exhibition on Joseph Wolf and the accompanying catalogue.

2000: The Natural History Museum, London, and Dr Tony Rice for the exhibition Voyages of Discovery and the accompanying book.