The UK electronic information Group (UKeiG), is pleased to announce that the winner of the prestigious international Jason Farradane and Tony Kent Strix Memorial Awards for 2023 is Martin White FBCS FRSC, HonFCLIP, Principal Analyst at SearchReseach Online.

The Jason Farradane Award is presented in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the library and information science profession.

The Tony Kent Strix Memorial Award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the field of search and information retrieval.

Martin celebrated both of his awards in a special Zoom lecture on the afternoon of Tuesday 5th December 2023. We hope to release a video of the event shortly. 

Martin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Fellow of the British Computer Society and an Honorary Fellow of CILIP – the library and information association. He recently retired from his prominent information consultancy role.

Starting out as an Information Officer in the metallurgical industry in 1970 his subsequent career has involved electronic publishing, high-technology market research and information and knowledge management consulting before setting up Intranet Focus Ltd. in 1999. He is a pioneer of the business-critical importance of effective enterprise solutions for information and knowledge search and discoverability.

The judging panels for both awards would like to congratulate Martin on his prolific and significant leadership and contribution to the profession on multiple fronts.

• International information management, intranet and enterprise search consultant for over fifty organisations with complex corporate challenges, including the International Money Fund, World Bank, NATO, United Nations, European Commission and a number of major pharmaceutical companies
• Presentations and workshops at conferences in fifteen countries
• Author of ten books on intranets, enterprise search and information management
• A Visiting Professor at the iSchool, University of Sheffield since 2002 and close links with City, University of London since 1977
• Dedication to the development and growth of the UK’s information profession through his energetic contribution to the Institute of Information Scientists – a predecessor to CILIP.
  

Martin was shocked but delighted to receive the news:

‘After a career of over fifty years in information science, receiving two awards reflecting the work of Tony Kent and Jason Farradane in the same year is a great honour. Kent and Farradane both played a crucial role in the development of my career. I am immensely proud.’

Udo Kruschwitz, Professor of Information Science, University of Regensburg writes:

'Martin has demonstrated major, sustained and influential achievements in the information retrieval and information science community, bridging the gap between industry and academia with a continuous, longstanding effort in forming and shaping a community of practitioners and academics in the field of search.'

Dr Sandra Ward BSc PhD Cert Ed Hon FCLIP concurs:

'Martin has dedicated his career to information science, information management and promoting the necessity for organisations to use these skills to deliver organisational benefits through well-constructed Intranets and Internets completely aligned with business objectives. He is the only person I know to use Information Scientist as the profession on his passport.'

Professor Charles Oppenheim BSc, PhD, PG Diploma in Information Science, Cert. Ed., DSc, Hon FCLIP, AUMIST, FRPSL applauds the news:

'Martin has an international reputation. He has authored many notable books on information consultancy and related topics and is co-author of a highly regarded history of the Institute of Information Scientists.  As a result of his numerous professional activities, talks, conference presentations and writings he has become one of the best known and most relied upon senior members of the library and information science profession.'

The UKeiG awards judging panels would like to thank colleagues who submitted nominations, and we look forward to your submissions later in 2024. The excellence and quality of the entries is proof positive that the information retrieval community is thriving.

The Tony Kent Strix Award was inaugurated in 1998 by the Institute of Information Scientists. It is now presented by UKeiG in partnership with the International Society for Knowledge Organisation UK (ISKO UK), the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group (RSC CICAG) and the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group (BCS IRSG).

The Jason Farradane Award is presented in recognition of an outstanding, creative and enterprising contribution to the wider library and information profession. It honours Jason Farradane, who first made an impact on the LIS community with a paper on the ‘scientific approach to documentation’ presented at a Royal Society Scientific Information Conference in 1948. He was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Information Scientists in 1958, alongside the first academic information science courses in 1963 at the precursor to City University, London, where he became Director of the Centre for Information Science in 1966.