History and Purpose of the Award

Bill Blake was the founder and co-chair of the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (ICPEM), who has had a significant influence on the lives of those currently pursuing a career in civil protection and emergency management. In order to commemorate his commitment and dedication, the ‘Bill Blake Memorial Award’ has been established with the following aims:

1. To provide students studying a full-time course within a UK institution an opportunity to developacademically with research and critical study within the field of civil protection and emergencymanagement;
2. o encourage students studying a full-time course at a UK institution and who have an interest in civilprotection and emergency management to consider joining the Institute; and
3. To recognise the achievements and efforts of students, who have an interest in civil protection andemergency management, and wish to pursue a career in this field.

The Bill Blake Memorial Award is awarded annually for the best paper in response to a title provided by the Institute. The Award Committee, led by Dr Burcak Basbug Erkan and consisting of a panel of three academics with experience in civil protection and emergency management related roles, will independently review each eligible entry for quality and content and select the three best entries.

Award Categories

The Institute will annually award three categories:

First prize: £400

Second prize: £200

Third prize: £100

In addition to the monetary award, the winning entrant and two runners-up will each be presented with a certificate of achievement and a Gold, Silver or Bronze inscribed award medallion for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively.

The winning entry will be published in the ICPEM journal ‘Alert’ and the authors of the three winning submissions selected by the Award Committee will be invited to be present at the ICPEM annual conference.

Proposal for Academic Year: 2019/2020

The proposed paper title for 2019/2020 will be:

‘As the complexity of emergencies and disasters increases, what are the key challenges faced by those required to respond as part of their official responsibilities?’ The author may write about a particular type of responder, e.g. police, fire, medical, central or local government, commercial organisations, or Non-Governmental Organisation, or write in more general terms covering a number of organisations.'

Eligibility

Applicants must be either undergraduate or postgraduate students enrolled on a full-time course in a UK Institution and have an interest in civil protection and/or emergency management. Should there be any doubt as to the eligibility of a student wishing to enter for the Award, the decision of the Academic Director is final.

Rules

1. The submission should be a paper of between 2,000 and 3,000 words, written in English, in response to a title given by the ICPEM, with references cited to work relevant to the given title, using the Harvardreferencing style.
2. The text should be Times New Roman with a font size of 12 and a 1.5 line spacing.
3. The student must be the sole author of the paper.
4. Only one entry per person
5. The work must not have been submitted previously for any other award, presented at national orinternational meetings or published in full or in part in anymedium.
6. In order to avoid plagiarism, students should be careful when preparing their work that all source materialis correctly referenced. Quotes and ideas from others can be included, as long as they are correctly attributedto the original source by referencing. Direct quotation should be indicated by the use of quotation marks; ifnot, even with an accompanying reference.
7. Entries must be submitted as a ‘pdf’ document to the Academic Director. Applicants will receive an email response to confirm receipt of submission.
8. In order to ensure impartiality during the review and selection process, authors are instructed not toinclude their names on the paper for submission.
9. Authors will not be identified to the judging panel.
10. The deadline for submissions is 23.59 GMT on 30th April 2020. Submissions received after this time will not be considered.
11. Winners will be contacted by email and entrants are responsible for providing the correct contact details.
12. The decision of the assessors on both eligibility and the awards are final and not open to question or challenge.
13. Entrants are required to submit a separate form with only their name and contact details which will be filed separately by the Academic Director, who will only identify the author following the selection of the winning entries.

Enquiries relating to the award and submission should be sent to the Academic Director, Dr Burcak Basbug Erkan at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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