Lyons Award searches for young motoring writers
The Guild’s Sir Williams Lyons Award is searching for the best young writer with an interest in cars and motoring. The winner will receive a cheque for £1000, a trophy and a year’s Provisional membership of the Guild.
Sponsored by Jaguar Cars, the company Sir William Lyons founded, the award is open to anyone aged between 17 and 25 who is not already employed and working as a motoring journalist.
Finalists will be invited to the Guild’s Annual Dinner and Awards on Thursday 29 November at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London, where the winner will be announced by Channel 4’s Formula One commentator Ben Edwards. The award will be presented by Sir William Lyons’ grandson Michael Quinn.
First presented in 1966, the award has proved to be an important entry point into the industry for many well-known names. Previous winners include:
- Tony Dron (Motor, Classic Cars and Daily Telegraph)
- Michael Le Caplain (production editor Classic Car Weekly)
- Alistair Weaver (vice president of editorial and editor in chief at Edmunds USA)
- George Barrow (editor, Van Adviser)
- Tim Pollard (digital editor in chief, CAR magazine)
- current Guild chairman Richard Aucock (managing director at Motoring Research).
To enter this year’s competition candidates will need to write a 500-word editorial story selecting from one of three topics:
- What will the premium car of 2030 be like?
- What is the most significant piece of emerging automotive technology today?
- Who do you think is the greatest British racing driver of all time?
The judges will be looking for an original, well written and researched piece of work that shows an individual style and approach to the chosen subject matter.
The closing date for entries is midday Monday 12 November.
All finalists will receive a year’s Provisional Membership of the Guild and their stories will be published on the Guild website.
Full details and an entry form may be obtained by emailing: generalsec@gomw.co.uk.
The last winner of the award was Helèna Hicks, seen above receiving the trophy from Jaguar design director Ian Callum (left), Michael Quinn (far right) and then Guild chairman Andrew Noakes (centre right).