Harry Brown Award Winners
Harry Brown Award Winners
1964-1967 Photographic Competition
Feb 1968 Photographic competition discontinued in favour of “One prize for the best article contributed to ‘The Scottish Beekeeper’ by anyone other than a regular contributor”
1969 Mr RH Bovery, (Bishop Auckland, “Standardisation of Hives”
May 1969 Now open to the best original contribution to “the Scottish Beekeeper”
Feb 1970 Mr AFF Maclure, “Alsace Ahoy”
Mr O Wilson, “A Beekeeper’s Reminiscences”
1971 Mr MS Wood, “Siftings”, Aug 1970, p142
Mr O Wilson, Beekeeping, a Trilogy”, July 1970, p132
Sep 1972 “It was agreed that the monies which went with this award be used for the competition to design new honey labels.”
Feb 1973 No award. “None of the entrants was worth a prize.”
Nov 1973 “The award to be made to the best article in ‘The Scottish Beekeeper’”
1974 “Sou’wester” “did not wish his identity to be disclosed to readers”
1975 Mr AFF MacLure
1976/1982 No award (May 1979 “A competition for Associations connected with the ‘Harry Brown award’ for a new front cover would be arranged. During 1980 a prize of £25 would be awarded to the individual submitting the ‘Best Article’ in the magazine” Nov 1980 “Award should be divided into two or more prizes in 1981 and these awards given for different classes of competition”
1983 Mr Eric Macarthur and Mr William Kirsopp
Feb 1983 “For 1983/84 to be given for the best article by an SBA member”
1984 Mr J Gleed
1985/6 No award made
1987 A B Ferguson, South of Scotland BKA
1988 Mrs Una Robertson, Edinburgh and Midlothian BKA
1989 No award made
1990 Mrs Anne Middleditch, Berwick upon Tweed
1991 Dr JE Durkacz, Dunfermline and West Fife BKA
1992 No award made
1993 RG Brown, South of Scotland BKA
1994 Alasdair Joyce, Forres
1995 Bob Lord, Peebles BKA
1996 John Stoakley, Peebles BKA
1997 Dr David Christison, Clyde Area BKA
1998 Mrs Brenda Vidler (McLean) Moray BKA
1999 C Neil Anderson, Kirkintilloch, Kelvin Valley BKA
2000 Peter and Moira Watt, Stonehaven
2001 John Salt, Forres
2002 John Goodman, Aberdour
2003 Magnus Peterson, Dunblane and Stirling BKA
2004 Nigel Hurst, Edinburgh and Midlothian BKA
2005 Ian Ferguson, Kelvin Valley BKA
2006 No award made
2007 Rosemary Legge, Fortingall BKA
2008 Bill Legge, Fortingall BKA
2009 John McLean, Dunblane and Stirling BKA
2010 Allan Cameron, Edinburgh and Midlothian BKA
2011 Phil Moss, Oban and District BKA
2012 Alan Riach, Edinburgh and Midlothian BKA
2013 Rev Kate Atchley, Lochaber BKA and Dr Gavin Ramsey Joint award “Varroa Mapping”
2014 Ann Chilcott, Morayshire BKA
2015 Tony Harris, Morayshire BKA
2016 Margaret Thomas, Willie Robson, Phil Moss
2017 Angus Rintoul – Ayr & District Beekeepers
2018 Kelvin Towner – Dunblane and Stirling Beekeepers
2019 Sarah Price aka SAM – Edinburgh & Midlothian Beekeepers
…who has been contributing to the Scottish Beekeeper magazine for the past 4 years. SAM has now decided to focus on being a beekeeper and will no longer share her insights to SBA members via the magazine. This news has prompted letters to the Editor thanking SAM for her honest approach to beekeeping and for openly sharing her learnings as she herself navigated the craft of beekeeping as a beginner. Members have expressed their sadness that SAM’s contributions have ended and expressed sincere appreciation for the step by step guidance SAM shared in her monthly articles.
2020 Neil Lyndon
Neil is Alex, a novice beekeeper who provides monthly insights into his diary and beekeeping trials and tribulations each month, and they are always informative and entertaining, with a lot of thought and variety added. Neil has agreed to run his diary for the whole of this year.
2021 Mr Bee ( aka Alistair Neill )
Mr Bee has kept us all entertained and intrigued throughout 2020 with his Grand Tour of Scotland. Not only have we virtually visited his fantastic destinations throughout Scotland, but we have also exercised the grey cells each month trying to guess from his clues where he is landed. Mr Bee generously donated his time creating the clues and venturing out to the various locations and continued to do this in a ‘virtual’ way when faced with the COVID travel restrictions. A testament indeed to Mr Bee’s tenacity and determination that ‘He’d started so he’d finish!’
Judging by the wonderful feedback from our readers and competition entrants, Mr Bee’s adventures were warmly received and anticipated each month, especially when we could only hope and look forward to travelling once again ourselves. I am sure Mr Bee will do a wee dance or two when he receives this well-deserved and well-earned award! Thank you so much Mr Bee for keeping us all going, and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
2022 Margaret Forrest
Margaret created a wonderfully informative and educational series of articles in 2021 entitled ‘My Beekeeping Year’. These articles presented members with a wealth of information including what foraging would be available in that month (helping us all to know what to plant and grow for when!), the practical advice needed to ensure a successful beekeeping season and her recommended reading lists. A lot of time and detail went into every single feature.
On top of this series, Margaret co-ordinated all the Book Reviews, writing many, which appeared in the publication, and she continues to do so in 2022. She also provided regular updates on the situation with the Moir Library and the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association’s lending library, during what were particularly challenging times due to the Covid restrictions.
Margaret generously contributed to every single issue of the Scottish Beekeeper magazine across 2021, sometimes with multiple articles.
I believe she has created a very valuable resource for beekeepers of all abilities and have no doubt that our members benefited from this in 2021 and will continue to do so for many years to come.
2023 Bron Wright
Since January 2021, Bron has faithfully created each month our Young Beekeeper’s section in the Scottish Beekeeper magazine. This wonderfully informative and educational series provides not only our younger beekeeping members, but members of all ages, with a multitude of facts, figures, pictures, and information each month. It is always an education to read these Young Beekeeper pages!
Bron’s skills lie in conveying a vast amount of information and education in such a fun and informative way, and who doesn’t love a good bee joke! The material she shares is not limited to honeybees and beekeeping, readers have found out more about native bumble bee species and beautiful butterflies, and have an understanding of what to plant each month to help all our pollinators thrive.
She is one of the SBA’s biggest supporters of young beekeepers and bee friends, and her enthusiasm and encouragement of our younger generations is contagious! What a brilliant ambassador for youth engagement, and through her monthly Young Beekeeper pages we can be assured that generations to come will benefit from her imparted knowledge and creativity.
Much time and thought go into every month’s section, and at four pages most months that is a lot of content to create and this generous level of commitment is most appreciated. We hope Bron realises the wonderful legacy she’s created (especially in the wee small hours when her creative juices seem to flow most!) and the very valuable resource she’s given to all our young beekeepers now and in the future. Many, many thanks Bron.
2024 Taylor Hood
Taylor Hood, has not only succeeded in stimulating interest in the magazine, but through his many articles has also met one of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association’s charitable objectives, namely ‘the advancement of the heritage, culture, and science of beekeeping.’
Over several years, Taylor has contributed many articles to the magazine, ranging from pieces on vintage beekeeping equipment, like his series on the Stewarton Hive, and John Gedde and his octagonal hive, to latterly historical pieces on some of the great Scottish beekeepers of their day like Dr John Anderson, Alex Deans and Bernhard Mobus.
The amount of time Taylor spends researching these historical pieces, the individuals, and their achievements reflects his passion and commitment to preserving the culture and heritage of Scottish beekeeping. In his endeavours, he makes great use of many of the SBA resources and should be commended for encouraging readers to utilise not only the Moir Library and its many precious books but also the rare book collection at the National Library and the online Scottish Beekeeper magazine archive.
For several of his articles, Taylor has engaged with local beekeeping associations across Scotland and has risen to the challenges posed by them, in investigating and sharing details of some of their most famous beekeepers from across the ages.
Many thanks, Taylor, your efforts undoubtedly contribute to the enrichment of beekeeping knowledge and keep alive the legacies of Scottish beekeepers for generations to come.