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DRAFT! This is an updated version of the Tratman award rules. (Currently active version is here).

25th Feb 2003 The intention of this document - issued to GPF on 25th Feb 2003 - is to try to re-state the original rules of the Tratman Award, where they have become blurred with time, and to update them where necessary. In particular, the rule that states that "all items published by BCRA, and all expedition reports submitted to GPF or NCA (in respect of awards from them) within the relevant period, will be deemed to be entries without further submission" may be too onerous. It assumes that the judges are pro-actively seeking out all this material, and in practice, this may be difficult to do.

As a starting point for revisions, the text in this document is based more closely on the full version of the original rules, and subsequent amendments. Where I have made material changes, or wished to make a comment, the text is marked in red and underlined. - David Gibson 25/2/03

This award, in memory of Professor E.K. Tratman, is made each year to the author (or joint authors) of the best published article, paper, report or book in the field of British speleology. Editors of publications are also eligible for the award. The award was funded with the surplus finds from the 7th International Congress of Speleology, held in Sheffield in 1977. Prof. Tratman was the President of the Congress. The award is administered by the Ghar Parau Foundation, which is a charity associated with BCRA. [edited notice from Caves & Caving (5), 1979].

Rules

I have re-ordered the rules slightly. Original numbering (from C&C 5) in brackets

  1. (-) The Tratman Award is presented annually to the person that makes the best contribution to British speleology in print. This can be in the form of an article, report, book, magazine or other publication. Joint authors are eligible, as are the editors of publications.
  2. (5) For literature to be eligible for the award it must either have been published by BCRA, or have been submitted to one of the judges via BCRA or the Ghar Parau Foundation committee or be brought to the attention of one of the judges.
  3. (5) All items published by BCRA, and all expedition reports submitted to GPF or NCA (in respect of awards from them) within the relevant period, will be deemed to be entries without further submission.
  4. (5) Items can be submitted by the author or anyone else, and must be submitted without additional comment by the closing date of January 10th of the following year. [That's what the rules say, but perhaps a later date would be appropriate?].
  5. (1) Entries must have been published for the first time during the relevant calendar year.
  6. (2) The author(s) (or editor(s) where appropriate) and the publication must be British or Irish.
  7. (3) The subject matter must be 'speleology'; but in its broadest sense. Speleology in foreign lands (e.g. expedition reports) is acceptable, provided that rule 6 is met.[slightly rephrased this rule and previous one - no material change]
  8. (4) Entries will be judged by three judges appointed by the committee of the Ghar Parau Foundation and the decision will not be open to discussion.
  9. (6) Entries will be judged for 'clarity of expression, interest value, quality of presentation, availability and the information nature of the contents.' Academic papers and club expedition reports will therefore be on equal standing.
  10. (7) Submitted entries will be handed to the BCRA library after judging is completed.

Guidelines and Comments

  1. [comment by M. Newson and T.Waltham in C&C 5: The aim of the award is to encourage improved standards of writing and publication. Prime requirements are that the published material should be readable, informative and available. Too many scientific papers are so detailed that their results are lost to most readers, and too many exploration reports are virtually unobtainable, or appear so late as to be irrelevant. So, lively punctual, well-illustrated, well-written publications will win the awards. Unaddressed, photocopied expedition reports, inch-by-inch descriptions of discoveries, and jungles of chemical analysis will be right out of it.
  2. The prize was initially set at £25, being raised to £50 for the 1990 award. The rules of the award were published in Caves & Caving (5) and Descent (44); these notes are taken from those rules. Initially stating that multi-authored journals were ineligible (as the prize was to be given to an author for a specific publication), the rules were modified in 1990 so that multi-author publications would then be eligible (see Descent 100)
  3. [added by DG] The rules state that BCRA publications and GPF/NCA expedition reports will automatically be eligible as entries. This means that the judges must arrange to have access to all this material, which would include, for example, BCRA's periodicals, the BCRA Cave Studies series and all the BCRA Special Interest Group publications.