Sir Arthur Clarke Award

The Sir Arthur Clarke Award is a British award given in recognition of notable contributions to space exploration, particularly British achievements. Founded in 2005, the awards are an annual event. They take place on the last day of the UK Space Conference, held annually at Charterhouse School. Nominations for the awards are made by members of the public, with shortlists drawn up by a panel of judges, who also choose the winner. The award was established with the permission of Arthur C. Clarke, who chose a special award independently of the public nominations prior to his death on 18 March 2008.

The award has the same proportions as the monolith featured in Clarke's , and is made of glass. It features the diagram Clarke drew in 1945 in order to demonstrate how satellites can provide global communications around the Earth from geostationary orbit, also called the Clarke Orbit. It was co-designed by Jerry Stone and Howard Berry.

Not all categories are awarded each year; 2008 was the first year in which nominations were shortlisted in the category of Best Film Presentation. An additional award was given in 2007 and 2008 that was named after and presented by George Abbey, the former director of the Johnson Space Center. It was awarded to those "whose space achievement made us laugh the most". [cite web |title = Latest Bang! News |publisher = Bang! |url=http://www.banguniverse.com/newsitems/view/73 |accessdate=2008-04-09] The award ceremony is similar to the Oscars in that multiple awards are given in various categories at the same event, which is different from other awards given in the field. As a result the awards have been referred to as the "Arthurs".cite news | title=Who's up for an Arthur? | last=Radford | first=Tim | publisher=The Guardian | date=24 March 2005 | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/mar/24/research.science] The awards are held in great esteem by the international Space community:Quote|The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards are held in great esteem and it is a huge honour to have been nominated. It was a fantastic surprise when we heard the news and we are very flattered.|Dr Andy Newsam, Director of the NSO|"http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/NewsUpdate/index_93984.htm"

2008 Winners

The 2008 Awards dinner was held on 29 March 2008. Special guests were George Abbey and Joe Engle.Fact|date=April 2008

Among the other nominees were Sir Richard Branson, and the Robson Green drama television series "Rocket Man".

2005 winners

Sir Arthur was also presented with a special award commemorating the 60th anniversary of his paper on global communication by satellite in the October 1945 edition of "Wireless World". This award was accepted on behalf of Sir Arthur by his brother Fred.

ee also

*Arthur C. Clarke

References

External links

* [http://clarkeawards.org Official site]
* [http://spaceconference.org.uk The UK Space Conference, host event for the awards]
* [http://homepages.rya-online.net/markdunn/brohp06 Photographs from the 2006 Arthurs and BROHP conference]
* [http://cepsar.open.ac.uk/News/Arthur%20awards%20update.htm 2005 Awards review]