Hidden Earth National Caving Conference

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Arthur Butcher Award (awarded by BCRA)

Each year, BCRA presents an award for, broadly speaking "excellence in cave surveying". As well as a cash prize of £100, there is a trophy to be kept by the winner for a year. The Award is judged and announced at the National Caving Conference.

To be considered for the award, individuals or caving clubs must bring their work to the attention of the judges. For a cave survey, you can easily do this by displaying it on your club stand at the conference - or you can create a poster describing your work. If, however, you want other work to be considered - such as a report or publication on a surveying topic, or other more general achievements - then you should contact the judges in advance; see Nomination / Application Form below.

BCRA is aware that there a number of excellent cave surveyors "out there" as well as several innovative projects to do with cave surveying . As you can see from the list of past winners, the judges can interpret the rules broadly, - but they cannot recognised your achievements unless you bring them to our attention!

Closed-loop Surveying Competition

Don't forget that the caving conference also features a closed-loop surveying competition, where contestants, working in pairs, are required to survey a short, undulating course outside the conference building. Come along and try your skills!

Surveying competition: Description

Rules of the Arthur Butcher Award

SeeCaves & Caving 87, p50 (Spring/Summer 2000) [History: Rules revised 1997 & 1999. See also Caves & Caving No. 41 (1988) and No 60 (1993)]

1. The Award will be made at the National Conference ...
   • ... to any one person or a nominated person from a group of surveyors, club or expedition.
   • ... for any one survey map, series of survey maps, report or publication on a cave survey or surveying topic; or for effort put into cave surveying by an individual or group; or for any other achievement relating to cave surveying that the judges consider warrants recognition.
   • ... by a panel of three judges approved by BCRA Council.
2. The judges will award the trophy called the "Arthur Butcher Award" and any other prizes which from time to time may be donated for that purpose.
3. The Arthur Butcher Award will only be made to a BCRA member or to member(s) of a BCRA member club, but the judges may award supplementary prizes to any other person.
4. Nominations for the Award (e.g. for a report or publication on a surveying topic, or other more general achievement) should be made in advance. The judges will also consider any cave map, published information etc., that is displayed at the National Conference. They will take into account a range of factors - effort and enthusiasm will be considered alongside skill, accuracy and presentation.
5. A copy of the award-winning material shall, if appropriate, be retained in the BCRA library.

Previous Winners of the Award

Also see Reports of past events

• 1988 Dave Ramsay and Arthur Millett for the Llangattwg cave survey
• 1989 University of Leeds Speleological Soc. for effort put into cave surveying.
• 1990 Colin Boothroyd on behalf of the Mulu expeditions for the Clearwater/Blackrock cave map
• 1991 Dave Irwin for perseverance with the St Cuthbert's Swallet survey
• 1992 Cambridge University Caving Club for contributions to the theory and practice of cave surveying
• 1993 Juan Corrin for continued service to cave surveying.
• 1994 Steve Neads, for his survey of Box Mines, and his Cave Surveying software
• 1995 Chelsea Speleological Society, for the club's strict adherence to Grade 5 standards; and notably to Arthur Millett, Mike McCombe and John Stevens for their development and use of computer survey software.
• 1996 Brian Judd, for innovative use of multimedia in his computer presentation on the China Caves.
• 1997 not awarded
  In 1997 the judges reported that they were disappointed at the small number of new surveys and surveying projects that were available to be considered for the award. After much discussion it was a majority decision not to make an award for 1997/8. There were a couple of ongoing projects that were given serious consideration but both had already received the award and the majority of the judges felt that it was too soon to award it again.
• 1998 Wookey, for his contribution to the development of surveying techniques and especially his enthusiastic promotion of cave surveying ideas and knowledge through the Cave Surveying Group, which he helped to form and whose newsletter he edits.
• 1999 not Awarded.
  The judges decided not to award the trophy this year. It was felt that, although there were a number of good surveys on display, no project was seen as being particularly innovative. BCRA is aware that there a number of excellent cave surveyors "out there" as well as several innovative projects to do with cave surveying - please bring your work to the attention of the judges and display your surveys, or posters describing your work, at next year's conference so that we can recognise your achievements!
• 2000 not awarded.
  Two written nominations were received in advance of the annual conference in 2000, and a few clubs displayed their work without making a formal application (the rules do not require written applications). Unfortunately, due to the workload of the conference organisers, it had not proved possible to appoint a panel of judges who were able to attend the conference. Afterwards, it was felt that it would be unfair to consider only the two written nominations. Therefore, it is with regret that BCRA has decided not to award the prize for 2000.
• 2001 Ray Duffy and Red Rose CPC for their Easegill survey. The judges thought this was an excellent example of a long-term surveying project and the use of electronic drafting methods. See .
• 2002 Chris Wood and Ed Waters of the Laki Underground Team. The judges considered that this was a good combination of detailed surface work by geographers and underground surveying by cavers. See .
• 2003 Juan Corrin Juan Corrin and the Matienzo Expedition. The judges liked the display of surveys on their stand at Hidden Earth 2003 and felt that the use of surveys in their presentations, together with other audio-visual elements was interesting and innovative. See .
• 2004 Erin Lynch and Duncan Collis for their excellent cartography and presentation of the Qikeng Dong & Dongba Dong survey, as well as a huge amount of surveying in China over the last four years, and good use of the Hong Meguei website for interim publication of surveys & data. The use of colour, the detail, cross referencing, overview info and layout on the survey are exemplary.
• 2005 Martin Green and Dave Loeffler for their Steinbrückenhöhle survey, which featured an excellent use of colour to distinguish levels in a very complex cave. The survey also demonstrates the state-of-the art in computerised survey-drawing software using Julian Todd's TunnelX.
• 2006 Ray Duffy and the RRCPC Easegill re-surveying team for sheet three of their Easegill survey (Oxbow Corner to Holbeck Junc-tion). The award was made for exemplary survey draughtsmanship, production and publication with accompanying notes, and for carrying through a long-term project with commitment over a decade.
• 2007 Phil Underwood for the 'Shetland Attack Pony' electronic compass / clino. Phil is not the only person to have worked on such a device but he has produced a well thought-out and robustly built unit, which has the potential to allow more accurate surveying, especially in difficult conditions. The device achieves this through reduced station position error and by storing readings in the device to allow later downloading, thus reducing transcription errors.

Nomination / Application for BCRA's Arthur Butcher Award for Cave Surveying

You may use this form, or write a separate letter. It is not essential to notify the judges in advance, because work displayed at the conference will automatically be considered for the award. Please return advance nominations by 1st September to the Conference Manager; see Contacting Us

1. State who you would like to nominate for the Arthur Butcher Award (you may nominate yourself!)
2. Give the Group, Club, or Expedition which this person represents (if any)
3. Give the BCRA membership number of the club or Individual (essential - see rules)
4. Will the nominee be displaying their achievements at the conference? (If so, don't forget to book a stand/display).
5. Bearing in mind rules 1b and 4, above, please attach a short 'citation' explaining why the nominated person should be considered for the award. If the nominee will not be displaying at the conference, please include with your citation a list of 'works'; but please note that unless the judges are familiar with the nominee's achievements, it unlikely that they can be adequately considered unless the material is made available for inspection. However, please do not send books, surveys etc., to the conference manager except by prior arrangement.