Guild Award of Excellence

Following various competitions encouraging Guild members to publish accounts of their one-name studies, it was decided to institute an annual Guild Award of Excellence. This may be awarded to members, or members of a One-Name Society whose study name is registered with the Guild, who in the judges’ estimation have achieved excellence in ONS publication.

The Guild Award of Excellence (GAoE) is intended to complement the Master Craftsman of the Guild (MCG) scheme, in acknowledging members’ contributions to ONS publication. There is no competitive element to the award; all entries considered to meet the required standard are recognised. As with the Master Craftsman scheme, recipients of the award are selected by a panel made up of existing award holders. However, unlike that scheme there is no limit on the number of awards made. 

Publications in most media are eligible. This includes books, articles, newsletters, periodicals, in either printed form or as electronic (e.g. PDF) documents, websites and blogs.

The Guild Award of Excellence was first awarded in 2012. For this first year, it was agreed that it should be awarded retrospectively to the previous winners of Guild Publications competitions, including the “highly commended” entrants to the 2009 competition. In addition, all articles written by students of Pharos’ Advanced One-Name Studies Course which were awarded Distinction were awarded, as well as a number which were awarded by the panel.

This is a list of those whom have been awarded the Guild Award of Excellence, with links where possible to the winning entry. Please note that some of the Journal articles are accessible only by Guild Members; for information on how to join, click here.

2017 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
David Briese	article	The Briese Surname: A Tale of Two Sources
Marie Byatt	website	pepler.one-name.net
Aubrey Cox	article	The Rise and Fall of the Surname Brazenor in Shropshire
Janet Few	article	John Thomas Braund: How Many Lies Can One Man Tell on a Census Return?
Ian Gotts	website	www.gotts.org.uk
Dr Jesse Hillman & Shelia Hillman	article	The Hillman Family on St Helena Island, South Atlantic
Susan Morris	website	emptageofthanet.co.uk
Israel Pickholtz	article	An Extraordinary victory for DNA
Professor Richard E Plant & Dr John S Plant	article	Royal Name Plantagenet Concepts
John Rattenbury	article	The Buildings of Francis Mawson Rattenbury in British Columbia, Canada: A Visit Rewarded
Wayne Shepheard	article	How do you Deal with Name Changes?
Rennison Vayro	article	Vayro Ancestry in Belper, Derbyshire: an Unsolved Mystery and an MBE
Sue Vize	article	Preliminary Finding on the Origins and Distribution of the Name Vize

 

2016 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
Marilyn Astle & Peter Astle	article	Using WW1 Records to Identify Family Groups in a One-Name Study
Michael Braund	book	The Price of Conflict: Braund Fatalities 1805-1946
Joe Flood	article	Using Y-DNA in One-Name Studies: Coads of the Border
Ian Gotts	article	Matthew Gotts – A Prisoner of War
Colin Hollow	article	Origin of Hollow… Via Holla Via Place Name?
Mike Kipling	article	The Search for Rudyard and the Kiplings
Ian MacDonald	article	What’s in a (Mewburn) Name?
Sue Mastel	website	Adamthwaite Archive
Susan Meates	article	Putting the genes into genealogy
Chris Sackett	website	Sackett Family History
Paul Seaton	article	From Earl Shilton to Waterloo
David Skyrme	article	Skyrme: From a Family History to a One-Name Study
Sue Swalwell	article	The Swalwell ONS: A Journey of Discovery But Not of Progress

 

2015 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
Gillian Barnes	article	The Family Historian’s Dilemma
Jennie Fairs	article	Are You Who You Think You Are?
Rod Fanthorpe & Jean M Fanthorpe	book	Fanthorpe – People and Place: How a worldwide family developed in its social and economic context from its Lincolnshire locative roots
Bob Hilbourne	article	Hilborne Surname Variants
Anne Hopton	Pharos Distinction	Bilclough: A Surname Emerges
Sue Horsman	website	www.horsmanstudy.info
Paul Howes	website	www.howesfamilies.com
Debbie Kennett	book	The Surnames Handbook – A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century
Simon Last	article	LASTs in World War 1
Anne Leonard	Pharos Distinction	Parishes and Peach Trees: The Foulds One Name Study
Andy Micklethwaite	article	Micklethwaites Reunited
Anthony J Mingay	article	Minge’s Gift
Tony Pitt	article	A Lifetime of Family History – a Big Game of ‘Hide and Seek’
Dr John S Plant & Prof Richard E Plant	article & paper	English Surnames: Plural Origins, DNA and Emigration
Sheila Rowlands (with John Rowlands)	book	The Surnames of Wales (2nd, revised edition)
Peter Rushen	article	The Halifax Explosion
Mike Spathaky	article	The Website IS the One-Name Study
Michael Stonehewer	article	Manchester Grammar School Boy Scouts in World War 1
Col Iain Swinnerton	article	The Royal Air Force
Gordon Tuff	article	Turning Data into Families
Rennison Vayro	website	www.vayro.name
Ann Williams	article	Soldiers, Sailors and One Airman: WW1 in a Study of the ASTRIDGE Name

 

2014 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
Kim Baldacchino	article	Estall: An Obvious Surname?
Michael Edgoose	article	Origins of a Surname: Food for Thought?
Michael Hardcastle	article	Roots of the Hardcastles – “An Old Yorkshire Family”
Marilyn Johnson	article	Will of Benjamin Dennis Oxland
Ian G. Macdonald	article	Seeking Mewburn
Colin Spencer	article	My Father-in-law was a Submariner for the Germans and Allies in WWII!
Michael Stonehewer	article	Search Engine Images – Finding 389,860 ‘Stonehewer’ One-Name Images!

 

2013 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
Kim Baldacchino	article	MindMaps for One-Namers
Jim Benedict	article	A Dark and Stormy Night
Jim Benedict	article	The Digital Road Warrior
Don Bidgood	article	BLOG in the Clouds
Bob Cumberbatch	article	Buried in Lincolnshire and 4,000 miles from home
Michael Hardcastle	book	The Roots of the Hardcastles – An Old Yorkshire Family
R A Hilbourne	article	Where Did my Surname Come From?
Ray Hulley	article	John Hulley, British Olympic Instigator
Howard Mathieson	article	The Boxall surname: An exercise in landscape evidence
Michael Mitchelmore	article	Mitchelmore in the Middle: A Study of M* Surmids
Dr John Plant	article	The Plant Controversy
Mike Spathaky	website	Modern British Surnames
Lisa Watson	article	WANMER – Conducting a small one-name study

 

2012 Winners

Winner	Media	Title
Wendy Angove	book	The Jigsaw Puzzle Tree (2009)
Peter Badham	book	Badham Delvings (2009)
Kim Baldacchino	article	Out of Devon: The Eastlake surname comes of age
Jack Blencowe	book	The Blencowe Families (2009)
Janet Few & Chris Braund	video	The Braunds of Bucks Mills (2009)
Penelope Burton	article	Some Speculations on the Origin of the Quested Surname
Marion Filby	periodical	The Filby Association Chronicle
Mark Filby	website	The Filby Association
Nathan Goodwin	periodical	The Dengate Journal (2009)
Ken Grubb	periodical	Grubbing Around (2009)
Paul Howes	article	Howes That?
Paul Howes	website	Howes Families
Maureen Kenchington	essay	Synthesis in the Waycott One-Name Study (2010)
Sue Mastel	article	Adamthwaite – Adam’s clearing in the Eden Valley
Sue Mastel	website	The Adamthwaite Archive (2009)
Susan Meates	article	How a DNA Project produced discoveries (2006)
Ena Metcalfe	book	Metcalfe: History of the Clan (2009)
Ken Mycock	article	A Peak District Family – But, how many variants do I need?
Teresa & Stuart Pask	weblog	The Pask, Paske ONS Blog (2009)
Teresa & Stuart Pask	book	Pasks of Lincolnshire, Volume I, Great Gonerby (2009)
Chris Sackett	website	The Sackett Family Association
Alan Savin	booklet	The Savin Sagas (2009)
Doug Shaw	article	Hembrough: A Locative Surname and its Places
Betty Choyce Sheehan	book	The Choice/Choyce Compendium (2009)
Caroline Smith	article	Blindell: The Jigsaw of a Surname
Glenda Thornton	book	Dead Relatives: The Rise and Fall of the Phillibrowns (2009)
Colin Ulph	book	Ulph Family History (2009)
Colin Ulph	essay	How I run the Ulph one-name study (2011)
John Rennison Vayro	article	Thomas Vayro, a volunteer miner who served in the Durham Light Infantry