Paul Gilbertson (left) is the sponsor of the Rookie of the Year award, as from 2009. Paul, with support from BIBA's Michael Crane, provided the outstanding prize of hotel accommodation plus entry and registration for BIBA's Bright 'n' Breezy tournament in January 2010, as well as providing a new trophy for the award, plus a memento to keep. For the 2011 winner the prize changed. At every Bristol monthly Grand Prix event entered, the winner receives the £10 entry fee (or £10 of the £20 entry fee for the March, June, September and December events) | |
Pictured on the left is the trophy which, until 2009, was won each year by the player who, in the opinion of Ian Tarr, is the best newcomer to Bristol Backgammon competition. What should we do with this trophy? All ideas gratefully received. The new trophy provided by Paul Gilbertson has sadly not yet been photographed |
Qualifiers for this prize are players making their Bristol Backgammon debut during the current calendar year, and the award goes to the player who, in the opinion of Ian Tarr, has made the most impact during this period.
(Players with significant previous experience elsewhere are exempt from this award, however)
The 2013 award was again won convincingly, this time by James Newman, whose strong showing in both league and knock-outs made it an impressive debut year | |
Andy Boysan was the only realistic contender for the 2012 award, taking just four weeks from his debut in the Conference League to do enough to clinch Premier Status | |
Lily Owsley took the 2011 award, diving straight into Thursday competition, and winning a Handicap Trophy event as well as picking up match wins in her other events | Sadly, there is as yet no photo of Lily to commemorate her achievement |
Jamie Nevill beat off stiff competition from Sean Hopson and James Lintell-Smith for the 2010 award | |
Of the new players in 2009, Chas Perry was the one who made the biggest impression, winning the Conference title, as well as performing well in various knock-outs | |
Simon Temme just pipped Richard Holness to the 2008 award, having won promotion from the Conference and performed creditably in knock-outs | |
The 2007 winner was Marcus Wrinch, not least for the fact that he won his first sixteen matches in the Bristol Conference League! | |
Nick Barham, runaway winner of the 2006 IGP, outstripped a strong challenge from fellow rookie Steve Morris to scoop the 2006 award | |
Our third winner Tim Line, whose performance over less than four months was enough to sway the judges for the 2005 award | |
Richard Cartwright arrived in May, and won so much that he was the obvious winner of the 2004 award | |
Inaugural Award winner Richard Owsley, conqueror of four high-ranking players in grand prix events, with his trophy |