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Can anyone tell me where to find the citations for this years 2021 BAA awards on the website?
Denis Buczynski
Hi Denis,
You can find them under the menu option About us -> Awards.
https://www.britastro.org/about-awards
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Denis,
I just realised I was too quick in my reply as you were asking for the citations, not the list. I think they appear in the Journal, though I am checking. Could be a good thing to publish separately on the website.
Best wishes,
Andy
I don’t think they are published consistently. I remember looking for my 2019 Merlin Medal in the Journal and could not find one. I recall it was not mentioned at the meeting when I received it either so AFAIK there is no public record of why I received it.!
I absolutely agree that in the past the BAA has published surprisingly little (consistently) about the recipients of awards. I think it would be great if they were announced with a news story on the front page of the website, and a matching article in the Journal.
Perhaps past citations where available could also be added as links from the list of recipients? As well as of individual interest it would reflect the overall achievements of the Association and its members as a whole.
Hi Robin,
Yes – that would be really nice, though I fear it’s unlikely to happen for a little while.
At the moment the website operations group is focused on preparing for the launch of the new-look BAA website, due in a few weeks’ time. And after the launch, I suspect there will be a crazily busy period of fixing glitches and helping our many contributors to find their way around the new content management system.
So I fear any non-urgent website issues are likely to end up on a to-do list that we won’t have a chance to look at before the spring!
Best wishes,
Dominic
The answer to the question is that we do not publish them on the website. We used to publish them consistently in the Journal, but this has not been done for the past few years.
I think we should (at least going forwards) publish the reasons for all awards both in the Journal and on the website, but I don’t think we should publish the original citations exactly. They are essentially private documents, intended for committee consumption, and not necessarily written with a view to publication.
If we could get round to summarising, and publishing past citations on the website as well, that would be good. If we do, I’ll make sure we start with Denis’s!
David (President)
The full citations are not private nor have they been, or should they be. Only the names of the proposers are concealed.
For some they are the summation of many years, if not a lifetime, of a member’s contributions to the Association and to astronomy in general. To save a few lines in the Journal would be a bit mean.
Perhaps some guidelines might suggest something like the equivalent of the maximum number of words that would fit on a single side of A4, except in very exceptional circumstances such as George Alcock, Harold Ridley and Dr.Steavenson.
Ron,
I would add to what David said, that the original citations are submitted to Council by the nominating individuals, usually without the knowledge of the award recipient and without any official input from the BAA. While many citations may be very well written, there is no guarantee that the original citation is accurate and does a good job of summarising a member’s lifetime work. Nor is there any guarantee that the recipient themselves is happy with the way it presents their work.
I think, precisely because an award can celebrate many years of an individual’s work, it’s natural that the BAA may want to tidy up the citation and check it with the award recipient before it appears in print. It’s not at all about being mean and saving space!
Best wishes,
Dominic
Dominic
Yes I agree, if they are badly written but not if it’s just to save space. However, I can see that there is a case for limiting the size of the contribution but not merely to a couple lines for many years devotion to the BAA, a significant discovery or a highly original piece of scientific work.
“Maximum on A4” when printed in 3-pt FlySpeck font?
While I agree with your general sentiments, I believe any limit should be a little more precise. Perhaps 1000 words or something like that?
That said, both storage and bandwidth are essentially free these days. A picture is worth a thousand words — well, costs more anyway — and the BAA is quite happy to host many thousands of images. No technical reason to be parsimonious; the judgement should be based purely on aesthetic issues. My opinion, anyway.
The font and font size for contributions to the Journal are stipulated here:
https://britastro.org/contrib2
They are rarely accompanied by more than one photograph.
Kind regards,
Ron
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