Nominations sought for motoring writing awards

Published: 29/05/2024

The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain (SAHB) has opened nominations for the SAHB’s two annual awards – the Malcolm Jeal Award for the best article on motoring history, and the Michael Sedgwick Award for the best motoring book.  

The awards are designed to encourage the continuation of excellence in articles and books on motoring subjects.

The deadline for nominations is 15 July and the awards will be presented at the SAHB AGM and Autumn Seminar in October.

The Malcolm Jeal Award: This is the seventh year of the award; last year’s winner was Peter W. Card for his two-part article on 'Lucas - the P100 Projector', published in the December 2022 and February 2023 issues of The Automobile.

This award commemorates the late Malcolm Jeal’s dedication to thorough original research, well-written articles and succinct editing. He created and for many years edited the SAHB’s Aspects of Motoring History, and was the creator and initially sole writer of the SAHB website’s Snapshots that continue every week in his memory.

The award will be presented to the writer (not necessarily an SAHB member) of a single article of at least 1,500 words that has appeared in print in English in any periodical. The period of publication for this year’s award will be the 12 months starting 1 July 2023 and finishing on 30 June 2024. Only one article per author will be accepted by the judging panel.

The article must be about mechanically-powered road transport, be of historical value, and not previously have been published in any other form. The judging panel will take into consideration the appropriateness of accompanying illustrations, captions, sources and, where appropriate, references.

If anyone has read a particularly good article recently, or perhaps has been impressed by the detail of the research and good use of the English language, and would like to nominate it for this award, they should scan the article and send it, by email, to the chair of the judging panel, Guy Loveridge, on gjcl69@aol.com. Please remember that authors can nominate their own article.

The Michael Sedgwick Award: This award is given annually in the name of the much-respected motoring author, the late Michael Sedgwick. Last year’s winners were Mike Wilds and Geoff Thomas, for their book Life on the Wilds side! (published by Douglas Loveridge Publications) which told the story of Mike Wilds's experiences, over more than 50 years, as a professional racing driver.

Again this year, we are inviting nominations for books written in the English language (not necessarily by an SAHB member). The winning book will demonstrate excellence in its research, presentation, readability and novelty, and will materially further our understanding of the subject.

The period of publication for this year’s award will also be the 12 months starting 1 July 2023 and finishing 30 June 2024.

Please send your nominations to the chair of the judging panel, Guy Loveridge, on gjcl69@aol.com. Please remember that authors can nominate their own book.