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The Charles Thomas Prize: Fifth Award 2008

The prize of £100 is awarded every second year subsequent to its inauguration in the year 2000 under the auspices of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.

The award is the wish of one who - having been fortunately enabled to engage in research in many fields for many years - would like to be linked to an award open to those whose work is considered to be of sufficient merit and of benefit to others.

Prizes

The intention is to reward individual and independent effort that has resulted in completed work on any aspect of Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly, past or present and to give encouragement and recognition to those whose work, although not intended for publication, is of great merit and of benefit to others.

The Award will be made to the person who fulfils the following criteria:

  1. the person is currently a member (any category) of the Royal Institution of Cornwall;
  2. has during the preceding two-year period, completed a piece of original work or original compilation from printed or manuscript sources (e.g. newspaper files or unpublished documents) relating to Cornwall including the Isles of Scilly;
  3. has by the date that the Award submissions are reviewed presented the finished work - in any format that other readers may use - to the Courtney Library;
  4. has been considered by a panel - meeting every second year not long before the Annual General Meeting in November - to have made the most useful contribution [see 2 above].

The closure date for submissions for the current year will be 31 August 2008.

Consideration will be given by the panel to various factors such as endeavour, persistence and originality (e.g. whether the work enhances the study of some unexplored subject); also its value as a research tool (i.e. whether the work, in the panel's opinion, will provide a useful resource for future researchers).

“Winning the prize for The Historic Bridges of Cornwall: The Ancient Monuments has encouraged me to move on to researching those bridges known as the ‘County Bridges’ and has also enabled me to buy a new camera!” Richard Truscott M.I.C.E, winner of the Charles Thomas Prize, 2006

To see this research or that by other Charles Thomas Prize winners, please contact the Courtney Library.