News: Northern England Caving Awards for Exploration Announced

News from DarknessBelow

 

The Northern England Caving Awards For Exploration (NECAFE) have been announced. For the first time cavers in the North of England are being invited to enter, with cash prizes for first and second place.

The award has been funded for a ten year period by an anonymous donor. The awards will be presented annually to any club, group of friends, or individual for original exploration, there is no requirement on anyone to be in a club or any other association.

The award will be presented taking the following into consideration:

  • Total passage length
  • Description of cave including location, grid reference, if an extension the area of the cave
  • Safety, access
  • Conservation (taping etc.) to be given priority
  • Survey(s).
  • Photos(s).
  • Any other relevant information.
  • General presentation.

The awards will be:

  • 1st prize trophy to be held for 1 year and £250.00 voucher
  • 2nd prize £125.00 voucher

Initially this award will run for 10 years, then be reviewed.

The geographic location will be caves located within the area covered by the Council of Northern Caving Clubs but not including Scotland as that area is included in the annual J-Rat digging award centred on Mendip.

There is no restriction on the residence of the applicants, i.e. the whole of the British Isles and any other country.

The awards will be presented annually at a venue in the Yorkshire Dales

There are no restrictions as to the number of awards that one club, group of friends, or individual can receive.

The entries will be judged by two non cavers with scrutiny and input from at least one caver and the decision of the judges is final.

For the first award the time period will be to March 31st 2018, with the discoveries to be new and within a previous three year period to the submission date.

It is essential that new discoveries are presented to Descent for publication within a reasonable period of time.

Final entries to be submitted to the [email protected] address by midnight on March 31st 2018.

As this is the first year for the competition there could be some items that have to be adjusted, if you have any concerns please email as below. Any other suggestions as to rules or conditions are most welcome.

For more details contact Steve Mason at [email protected]