Bristol Backgammon

Rookie of the Year Award

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

The history of the Rookie of the Year award

In January 2003 Gammonitis boss Liz Barker offered to sponsor a new annual award for Bristol Backgammon, an offer which was at the time made available to other groups in the UK.
As the first "club" in the UK to be made this offer, we were honoured to accept.
This award, consisting of an engraved memento and a year's free membership to Gammonitis, was for the "Rookie of the Year".
Sadly Gammonitis ceased to exist, and from 2007 the award was temporarily funded by Bristol Backgammon.
Then a new sponsor, Paul Gilbertson stepped into the breach, starting from the 2009 award.

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 2019 award

Players eligible for consideration for the 2019 award are:

The 2018 award

Players eligible for consideration for the 2018 award were:
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

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