As is the custom, the annual rally dinner was followed by the NAFTA’s, our awards ceremony, similar to the BAFTA’s, but with much cheaper prizes. This year, our MC, Martin Gregory (or M.G. for short), announced them in reverse order as follows:
The Weekend Break (The award no one wants their name on.) This year it went to Stuart Clark and WD 1430, as he had to be recovered back to The Chequers Inn after suffering a terminal failure a dozen miles from the start of the Saturday tour. To his credit, Stuart did say that he had tried to win it on two earlier occasions, but his saloon let him down!
The Martin Gregory Award (Awarded to the Networker who travels the furthest distance to attend the rally, using their participating vehicle to get there). Although I don’t have the mileage figure to hand, the judges did not need to refer to maps or the internet to decide that it must go to Jeremy Evans, who had journeyed down from North Wales to East Sussex in his 1930 MG M Type Midget (GH 6758), a trip that must be in the order of 280 miles each way. Not only that, he covered that distance in one day!
The LAT Plate (This award goes to the winner of the previous year’s Photograph of the Year competition). Geof Wilson won the 2025 POTY Competition (as voted by Network forumists) with his great shot of Janie Maeers driving her Minor Tourer (Prudence) across a ford.
The Kartikeya Lunia Forumist of the Year Award (Awarded in the opinion of the judges to the forumist with the most helpful forum posts). Peter Brock won this award by using his graphic art background to help illustrate his forum posts, with many of his diagrams and photos going on to be included in the website’s Technical Reference Section.
The Brian Maeers Claret Jug (Awarded to a Minor/M-Type/Hornet enthusiast who, through their motoring exploits, highlights the model’s capabilities to a wider audience). This resulted in a second award for Jeremy Evans, who has used his Minor Saloon and MG M Type regularly throughout the year, including trips to Ireland to participate in the annual Gordon Bennett Rally.
The Harry Edwards Memorial Trophy (The Network’s premier award, which is awarded for a variety of reasons). After much debate, the white smoke emitting from the chimney atop Network Towers last March, signalled that a momentous final decision had been reached. In the end, it wasn’t that difficult a decision to reach. The recipient has been a Minorist for 30 years or more and has covered tens of thousands of miles in his 1934 Minor Two-seater, including many long-distance trips. He is a founding member of the Network who knows more roadside fixes than there are roadsides and has therefore never had to be recovered. He has supported the Network throughout this time, both in his role as Moderator on this forum and as an Anglian, the band of brothers that wanted a more active Minor contingent in that part of the world. He is none other than Trevor Wilkinson, a true ambassador for the model and a very worthy recipient of this award. Congratulations, Trevor and to all the other winners!