Category: Ball & McCulla

Alan Ball Awards 2024

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We are once again seeking nominations for the Alan Ball Awards – the UK’s leading prize for local history publishing.

The object of the Awards is to encourage the production of high quality publicly or locally funded local history publications. They are open to all heritage and community organisations; and individuals that have self-published. Our criteria for assessing the award are not just about the quality and content of a publication, but its whole journey i.e. how it was conceived, who is involved and how it was funded.

We especially welcome submissions from libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services, small local museums and heritage centres, Local History societies, community history projects and local authors.

2024 Award

We have three categories:

  • Print publication – for best hardcopy publication 
  • E-publication – for best digital publication (e-books, journals, websites or virtual exhibitions, blogs and apps – we are sorry but we are unable to include digital installations within heritage or museum sites)
  • Community Award – for best community publication in either category

The publication needs to have appeared between January and December 2024.

Nominations including a copy of the publication or link to e-content to be submitted by end of January 2025. 

For further information, and to submit an application, visit our nomination page.

Alan Ball winners 2023 announced

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Logo for Alan Ball Award

CILIP Local Studies Group and the Library Services Trust are pleased to announce the winners of the Alan Ball Awards for the best local history publications that were published in 2023. Once again, we had a good number of high-quality publications that made judging very difficult. The winners are:

Hardcopy joint winners

Glasgow Life Museums, Scotland’s Lascar Heritage: Investigating the lives of South Asian Mariners (Glasgow Museums Publishing in Association with the Bangladesh Association Glasgow, 2023). Available here: https://shop.glasgowlife.org.uk/products/scotland-s-lascar-heritage-investigating-the-lives-of-south-asian-mariners

Paula Stevens, Lavenham House Histories (Self-Published, 2023). Available here: https://paula-stevens.sumupstore.com/

Hardcopy highly commended

Kevin Crangle, Ardglass and Dunsford County Down Biographies (Self-Published, 2023). Available here: https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/ardglass

Lancashire Archives, Archives: Lancashire History Magazine (issues 2 & 3, 2023). More information here: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-record-office/archives-magazine/

E-publication winner

Harlaxton History Society website 2023; www.harlaxtonhistory.co.uk

Community Project publication winner

Newport History Group, Lest We Forget: Poppy Project 2022 (Newport on Tay, Fife, 2023). Available here: https://www.newportontayhistory.org.uk/shop/Lest-We-Forget-p601784795

Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who submitted their publications. An online presentation event will take place in July 2024.

Nominations are open for hard copy and e-publications published in 2024, closing date end of January 2025.

Winner of the McCulla Award 2022 announced

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The well-deserved winner of the McCulla Award 2022 is Tony Pilmer. At present he is Librarian and Archivist at the Royal Aeronautical Society, but has had a long career in local studies in Slough and Hertfordshire. He has been active in CILIP’s Local Studies Group and the South sub-group for many years and also belongs to CILIP’s Rare Books Group. He has shared his enthusiasm for local studies through the organisation of study days, visits and contributions to the LSG blog, but most outstanding has been his work over the last four years on the Local Studies Toolkit, an online resource for all who work with local studies collections. Tony developed the initial plan and recruited a group of contributors, proof readers and checkers. He promoted the project and managed the volunteers. It is in a format, devised by him, which allows easy updating and contribution from users and will be an invaluable tool for those who work in the field.

Nominations open for Alan Ball Awards 2022

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Once again we are looking to reward outstanding local history publications and we need your help.

Do you know of an excellent local history book or website that was published in 2022? Then please think of submitting a nomination to the Alan Ball Awards: we want to reward as diverse a range of publications as possible. The Awards are now open to all heritage and community organisations, as well as individuals that have self-published. This year we will have three categories:

  • Print publication – for best hardcopy publication 
  • E-publication – for best digital publication (e-books, journals, websites or virtual exhibitions, blogs and apps. Please note: we are unable to include digital installations within heritage or museum sites)
  • Community Award – for best community publication in either category.

Deadline for submission is the end of February 2023. Further details and how to submit nominations can be found at: https://lslibrarians.wordpress.com/local-studies-publication-e-publications-of-the-year-awards/

McCulla Award Winners Announced

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Librarian sitting on books painting a townscape. Large text below: Local Studies Group McCulla Award 2021

We are delighted to announce the winners of the McCulla Award. The McCulla Award recognises outstanding contributions to local studies librarianship. The winners for 2020 and 2021 are:

2020: Norma Crowe, Local Studies Librarian, Medway Archives Centre.

2021: Louise Birch, Senior Librarian Manager, Local Studies, Leeds Libraries. 

Many congratulations to Norma and Louise. We hope to organise a presentation in due course.

Alan Ball Award Winners Announced

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We are very pleased to announced the winners of Alan Ball Awards for 2020 and 2021. The Awards recognise achievement in local history publication. This year there were three categories: best print publication, best e-publication and best community publication.  

It was very competitive field – we received around 38 nominations of the book award and 10 for the e-award – so many congratulations to all the winners and those highly commended. A thank you too to the judges and Solihull Library for hosting us.

2020

Hard-copy winner: John Simpson (ed),  Managing Poverty: Cheltenham Settlement Examinations and Removal Orders, 1831-52.  Published by the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.

Highly commended: Rowan Whimster, Ramsbury: A Place and its People. Published by the Friends of the Holy Cross Church, Ramsbury.

Community award: Louise Wong (ed.), Crossing the Borders [Stories of the S E Asian communities in Manchester]. An NLHF funded project by the Wai Yin Society / Manchester University / Ahmed Iqbal Ulah RACE centre –  Manchester Central Library / Manchester Art Gallery.

E publication award: Stroudwater History website – www.stroudwaterhistory.org.uk. Published by the Stroudwater Navigation Archive Charity.

2021

Hard-copy joint winner: The Picture of Yarmouth: 200 Years of Built Heritage. Published by the Great Yarmouth Local History & Archaeological Society.

Hard-copy joint winner: Louise Ryland-Epton (ed), Bremhill Parish Through the Ages: The Heritage of a Wiltshire Community. Published by the Bremhill Parish History Group.

Hard-copy highly commended: Lewis N Wood, Banstead War Memorial – 100 Years: An Illustrated history. Published by the Banstead History Research Group.

Hard-copy highly commended: Clare Wichbold – Hard Work – But Glorious: Stories from the Herefordshire Suffrage Campaign (self-published).

Community award joint winner: Alison Wilson with Anna Crutchley and Lilian Rundblad, photography by Faruk Kara, A Community Remembers: Histon Road  (book with CD). Published by the Histon Road Area Residents Association.

Community award joint winner: Nunnery Lane and Clementhorpe: Exploring Old Shops and Pubs in York. Published by the Clements Hall Local History Group.

E-publication: South West Heritage Trails – Torbay Discovery Heritage Trail  www.southwestheritagetrails.org.uk. Published by South West Heritage Trust.

Sally Jenkinson – McCulla Award Speech

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In the week we announce the latest winners of the McCulla Award, Sally Jenkinson of Surrey History Centre, reflects on the achievements that won her the Award in 2019/20.

Highlights of my projects 

When I first joined Surrey History Centre my main role was to help with a project to set up volunteer run Local History Centres in libraries around the county, mainly supporting the volunteers with training and resources.  Some of their excellent work can be seen online at Epsom & Ewell History Explorer and the RH7 History Group

I soon became involved in developing the Surrey History Centre website, and in due course in an interesting new project to make it possible for customers to pay for events and buy books online.  This has now been superseded by Surrey Heritage’s combined online catalogue and shop. 

The Quarter Sessions project was rather special as it was undertaken by the Surrey History Trust.  The project was led by volunteer John Holland who sadly passed away before completion.  I was pleased to be able to help finish producing the CD, and a few years later to arrange to put the same data on Findmypast where it continues to produce income for Surrey Heritage. 

Probably the most important work I have done has been arranging to put records online on Ancestry, Findmypast, Forces War Records and The Genealogist.  To be able to make so many records available all over the world so easily is something we would never have thought possible when I started work in Surrey Local Studies Library in Guildford.  That was in 1989, when enquiries arrived on paper in the post. 

The database I most enjoyed making is the Loseley Letters database.  I created this for colleagues so that they could enable researchers to reconstruct sequences of correspondence as well as searching for a person, place, subject or keyword.  

My favourite volunteers project was the Surrey tithe records project because tithe records are so useful for local history research.  We made transcripts and copies of the maps available to purchase, and we were all very pleased that the project also helped the Surrey Wildlife Trust protect some ancient woodlands.  In the second phase of the project volunteer David Young produced GIS-enabled tithe maps and first edition 25 inch OS maps for the county which researchers could purchase, and we were able to provide courses to show them how to use them.   

Local Studies Librarian of the Year 2020 and 2021 

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We are pleased to announce the winners of the McCulla Award aka Local Studies Librarian of the Year. Two McCulla Awards for Local Studies Librarian of the year have been made this year, as the pandemic interrupted the usual arrangements. The Award is in memory of Dorothy McCulla, who was Head of the Local Studies Department at Birmingham Central Library from 1969 until her untimely death in 1981. The judges, from CILIP Local Studies Group, had a difficult job choosing winners from a strong field, which reflects the excellent work being done under difficult circumstances in the past few years. 

Norma Crowe receiving her certificate for the McCulla Award.
Norma Crowe receiving her certificate

Norma Crowe, Local Studies Librarian at Medway Archives Centre, won the Award for 2020. She has worked in local studies in Medway since 1995 and has a fine record of community engagement. Her work on the history of Short Brothers of Rochester led to the founding of the Short Brothers Commemoration Society (which she chaired) and the erection of a memorial in the town. A similar project led to the setting up of Strood Heritage Society. Her outreach work often uses exhibitions to involve local volunteers and encourage visitors to the Archives Centre, in recent years she has featured women’s history and World War I. New audiences have also been attracted by her wide range of publications and web pages.

The 2021 winner is Louise Birch who has been Senior Librarian Manager, Local Studies, in Leeds since 2015. She has strategic responsibility for the department and is particularly concerned with building digital platforms and leading an externally funded oral history project in partnership with other library authorities.  During the pandemic, she was able to oversee the development of a new website for the Leeds online photograph archive of over 66,000 images, which has massively increased public engagement with the collection. She also runs a regular programme of events for Heritage Open Days, is developing the local studies offer to schools and has created heritage tours of the Central Library building. 

Alice Lock, Secretary of CILIP Local Studies Group

Nominations open for Alan Ball Awards

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We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Alan Ball Awards for local history publication of the year. The criteria and categories have slightly changed this year in order to be as inclusive as possible. We have also increased the date range under consideration due to the impact of lockdown.

The award, which is organised by the Local Studies Group of CILIP on behalf of the Library Services Trust, is open to all heritage and community organisations, and individuals that have self-published. Our criteria for assessing the award is not just about the quality and content of a publication, but its whole journey i.e. how it was conceived, who is involved and how it was funded. Therefore we especially welcome submissions from: libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services; small local museums and heritage centres; Local History societies; community history projects; local authors. 

We have three categories:

  • Print publication – for best hardcopy publication 
  • E-publication – for best digital publication (e-books, journals, websites or virtual exhibitions, blogs and apps. Please note: we are unable to include digital installations within heritage or museum sites)
  • Community Award – for best community publication in either category.

The publication needs to have appeared between July 2019 and December 2021.

Nominations, including a copy of the publication or link to e-content, should be submitted by January 2022. 

Further details and application forms are at the bottom of this page.

Last year’s winners were:

Best print publication

The National Stone Centre for Delving along the Derwent. Press coverage can be found here.

Best e-publication

East Midlands Oral History Archive for THE POST WAR HISTORY OF LEICESTER 1945-1962. Press release here.

Nominations open for the McCulla Award 2021

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Librarian sitting on books painting a townscape. Large text below: Local Studies Group McCulla Award 2021

The Local Studies Group of CILIP are looking to recognise an outstanding local studies librarian.

The McCulla award is usually given for a recent major project, or as a lifetime award for someone near the end of their career. It comes with a prize of £200. Re-submissions from previous years are very welcome. 

The prize is in memory of Dorothy McCulla who was the Head of the Local Studies Department at Birmingham Central Library, a post she held from 1969 until her untimely death in 1981.

We welcome nominations from colleagues, local historians, family historians and anyone who knows a local studies professional who has made a difference.

To nominate, please complete the form at the bottom of this page.

Any questions? Please contact Alice Lock via alicelocalstudies@outlook.com

This year nominations close on 31 October 2021. Nominations received after that would be considered for the next award.