Entries are open for the 2019 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation. Don't miss your chance to enter, entries close 20 May
The 2019 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation are back for another year, and now inviting entries. There’s not long left, so don’t miss your chance to enter. Entries close Monday 20 May 2019.
For more on Purdey take a look around their factory in our exclusive tour, read the Purdey factory in the 21st century. And meet the craftsmen who make the Purdey guns in Purdey’s craftsmen: meet the men behind Purdey.
THE PURDEY AWARDS
Held since 1999 and now entering their 20th anniversary year, entries to the Purdey Awards have featured an enormous range of projects and geographic locations. From grouse moor restorations to grey partridge projects, fenland wild pheasant shoots, wildfowling clubs and even a superbly restored one acre wild duck flighting pond, all have emphasised the superb game and habitat conservation work carried out by shoots throughout the country.
To date, over 250 shoots heralding from every corner of the UK have entered the Purdey Awards, over 75 individuals, syndicates and clubs have been selected as winners and more than £100,000 granted in prize money.
In 2018, Rob and Helen Brown were presented with the 2018 Gold Award trophy and £5,000, in recognition of their fantastic work on the Howesyke Shoot in Yorkshire. Since starting the project in 2009, they have transformed a hitherto intensively managed hill farm into a wonderful shoot offering a stunning variety of partridge, pheasant and grouse.
The judges said that Howesyke Shoot perfectly demonstrates just how much energy, enthusiasm and knowledge can create “a perfect small sporting estate in the uplands of England.” It is a project that has enjoyed the planting of over 100,000 broadleaf trees, a successful black grouse reestablishment scheme, over 900 acres of peat restoration, the creation of five new wetland habitats and the repair and rebuild of 1.3km of dry stone walls.
THE 2019 PURDEY AWARDS FOR GAME AND CONSERVATION
James Purdey and Sons, the London Gun and Rifle Maker, invites entries for their annual awards, the 2019 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation.
Held annually since 1999, the Purdey Awards seek to promote a wider appreciation of the game and habit conservation carried out by shoots throughout the United Kingdom every year. The Awards give well deserved recognition to shoots completing outstanding work, and reward the best.
Howskye Shoot in Yorkshire took the 2018 Gold Award.
Purdey invite entries from any type or size of shoot actively involved in improving habitats for game birds, and shoots that can demonstrate to the Awards judges how their work has improved the shoot and widened its biodiversity to benefit many other species of bird and wildlife. Entries can be from shoots anywhere within the United Kingdom, and made by individuals, syndicates, estates, farm shoots and wildfowling clubs. Purely commercial operations are unlikely to be eligible, but shoots actively engaged in conservation work which let a proportion of their days to defray costs are welcomed.
The Prize Fund this year is £12,500 for Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards with Special Awards to recognise outstanding individual achievements. Up to five on site advisory visits from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust will also be awarded.
Entries will be assessed by Dr Mike Swan of the GWCT Advisory Service and Awards Organiser Richard Purdey. The Purdey Awards judging panel, chaired by the Duke of Wellington, will meet in June to shortlist the most promising entries to receive judging visits in August or September. The fourteen strong panel will then reconvene in October to determine the winners. The winners will be presented in February 2020 at the annual ceremony held at Audley House, Mayfair.
THE 2019 PURDEY AWARDS: HOW TO ENTER
Don’t miss the chance to enter the 2019 Purdey Awards. Applications close 20 May.
Entry forms and rules of the the 2019 Purdey Awards are available free of charge by post from James Purdey & Sons Ltd, 57-58 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2ED, online at www.purdey.com/shooting-life/purdey-awards/, telephone 020 7499 1801, or by emailing purdey.awards@purdey.com.
Entries must be completed and have reached Dr Mike Swan at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust at Fordingbridge no later than Monday 20 May 2019.