Winners of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain Awards 2022

Published: 11/10/2022

Introduction
The 2022 Michael Sedgwick Award for the best book on British motoring written in the English language and the Malcolm Jeal Award for the best article to appear in print in English were presented at the SAHB’s autumn seminar at Towcester Racecourse.

The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain (SAHB) is delighted to announce the winners of its two awards for 2022.

The Michael Sedgwick Award
The clear winner was Ian Wagstaff, for his book: Formula 1’s Unsung Pioneers (published by Evro Publishing, 2022)

The two other excellent entries on our shortlist were Twin-Cam Extravagance – The History of Lagonda Rapier & Rapier Cars by Chris Wiblin, and Freestone & Webb 1923-1958 by James Taylor.

The judges felt that all three books brought new and previously unexplored stories into the light. The Freestone & Webb title taught us a great deal, but was presented in a way that the judges found a little "dry" The Lagonda Rapier title was an early leader for the award but fell short on a few counts, not least that the SAHB review copy was basically falling apart once it had reached all of the judges – and we have to take all of a book into account. This left our winner, Ian Wagstaff. Whilst clearly a personal passion project for Ian, this book brought so many new facts and stories to the reader that even those on the judging panel who profess little interest in this era of motor sport agreed that the way the book was written and put together in terms of design and layout made it an enthralling read and a clear winner of the 2022 Michael Sedgwick Award. Ian Wagstaff gave his deepest apologies for not being able to attend, but Chairman of the Judging Panel, Guy Loveridge, will be sending a plaque and a cheque for £250 to Ian.

The SAHB acknowledges the generous support of the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust in making this award.
 
The Malcolm Jeal Award
The clear winner was Russell Hayes, for his article Aston’s Forgotten Home (in the November 2021 issue of Octane).

The two other excellent entries on our shortlist were 

Heroic Half-Pint: The Tale of the Persistent Ford V-8/60 by Karl Ludvigsen (in the August 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile) and Pressed Steel in Britain by Bill Munro (in the August 2021 issue of The Automobile).

The short list for the Malcolm Jeal Award provided three fascinating articles which covered their subjects most comprehensively. The Ludvigsen piece was as thorough and polished as we have all come to expect from Karl's many years of literary endeavours but, to some jurors, it lacked really new "cutting-edge" material. Bill Munro showed his knowledge of " the industry" to great effect in his piece but we felt it moved a little off-target as it progressed and became a little "baggy" and did not return to a sufficiently clear-cut conclusion. Russell Hayes’s piece shone a light on an aspect of Aston Martin and Lagonda heritage that was completely new to us all. We tend to assume that the David Brown years started at Feltham and went to Newport Pagnell and that's it. Not so. This piece was well constructed, conveyed the information clearly and concisely and, as it appeared in Octane, brought a whole new audience to the story. Because of this perfect combination of factors, it was a unanimous choice for the 2022 Malcolm Jeal Award.