June 22, 2010 -- The BCS has recognised innovative use of mapping at the recently held BCS Symposium entitled “Talking with Maps” that attracted over 100 mapping professionals and enthusiasts. The winning individuals and organisations, announced during the awards ceremony, were rewarded for demonstrating their innovation and excellence through the successful use of better map design.

Across the following four award categories, the winners were:

• Stanfords Award for Printed Mapping: XYZ Digital Mapping Company awarded for their Postcode Sector Map – Sheet 22. 
• Avenza Award for Electronic Mapping: British Antarctic Survey for Polarview – Antarctic Node 
• John C. Bartholomew Award: Dr Kenneth Field from Kingston University and Dr Linda Beale from Imperial College London for their Geo-Genealogy Irish Surnames Map.
• Ordnance Survey MasterMap® Award for Better Mapping: The Highland Council for ‘Inverness City Main Developments 2010’. The Council claimed this award for creatively using OS MasterMap® to define colours and textures to render a semi-realistic impression of the city of Inverness whilst maintaining the precision of the original product. The judges agreed that through using innovative techniques within design, The Highland Council produced a visually striking map clearly displaying the richness of Ordnance Survey MasterMap® data alongside modern design. 

The Highland Council subsequently went on to become overall winner of all four categories to claim the prestigious BCS Award. On receiving this award, Peter Alexander of The Highland Council remarked, “We are thrilled to be recognised as overall winner of the BCS awards especially in light of the extremely intense competition.”

A further award presented during the ceremony was The Henry Johns Award. This was presented to authors Alexander Kent of Southampton University and Peter Vujakovic of Canterbury Christ Church University for the best article in The Cartographic Journal entitled 'Stylistic Diversity in European 1:50 000 State Topographic Maps'.

In addition to the Annual Awards, the Society also conferred Honorary Fellowship on Ken Atherton in recognition of his many years of devoted service to the Society. Since becoming a member in 1983 he has fulfilled many roles and remains heavily involved with the Symposium as a key member of the Programme Committee.

Cliff Nicklin, Vice President and Acting Awards Officer, commented, ‘This year has seen a high standard in the awards and it is a pleasure to see an entry from local government win the coveted BCS Award. We are eager for more organisations to enter their maps for the awards and hope that the success of The Highland Council will encourage this’.

Information on the awards is available at www.cartography.org.uk. Entries are accepted from non-members as well as BCS members. The deadline for the 2011 awards is February 2011.