Sir Alastair Pilkington. Credit: SGT.
The Society of Glass Technology announced that it is beginning an “early career” biennial £1000 award (about $1,600) to promote creativity and excellence in studies related to glass. SGT says the award will be named the Alastair Pilkington Award in honor of the man best known for his invention of the float glass process. The groups notes the award is apt because Sir Pilkington, himself, “was at the early stages of his career when he achieved this stunning innovation,” and “actively encouraged young people to share his enthusiasm for all things to do with glass.”
The general rules and criteria for this award are:
- Applicants may be from any glass field where publication in refereed journals is the norm, including glass science, technology, history, arcahaeometry, conservation, design, museology, etc.;
- There is no age limit, but under normal circumstances it is expected that applicants are under 40 years of age (this allows those who come into the glass field later in life to compete), and applicants must demonstrate that they have been employed in the glass field for no longer than seven years following training;
- Each applicant must provide the names, addresses and contact information of three references;
- Each applicant should submit, in English, his or her three (maximum) best peer-reviewed published papers in terms of quality and of substantial personal contribution, and the applicant should be the sole or first-named author, or be demonstrably the primary author, and each paper must be accompanied by a statement clearly defining the applicant’s contribution;
- The papers submitted must all have been published within a period not exceeding five years;
- Each paper must be submitted electronically as a PDF file corresponding to the final printed version in the journal concerned;
- Applicants will be limited to a maximum of three attempts for the award.
- Deadline for submission of applications is March 1, 2012, and submissions may be made via the website.
SGT says the process of judging the applications shall be under the aegis of the its Board of Fellows, which may form a subcommittee to consider the entries in detail and make recommendations to assist the Board in making this Award.
The group says the first award will be presented at the European Glass Society conference (pdf) to be held in Maastricht, Netherlands, June 3-6, 2012.