THE VIC SIMPSON PRIZE

Short presentation competition

Cornwall Mammal Groups' first attempt to run a presentation competition to celebrate the life and work of Vic Simpson has not been straightforward! Despite the trials and tribulations of moving from a full-day event hosted by the University of Exeter at Penryn (pasties included!) and supported by a range of other groups, exhibits, and companies to an online event at zero notice.

Our socially-distanced (actually nobody left their homes…) panel of judges included Paul Chanin (esteemed ecologist, author and President of the Mammal Society), Billy Heaney (Exeter graduate and wildlife presenter), Kelly Moyes (Senior lecturer at CEC at The University of Exeter), Gemma Haggar (CMG Committee member and another Exeter graduate) and, of course, Jane Simpson. The panel was marshalled/coerced/prodded by our own Kate Hills and the event was organised by Kelly, Mary, Gemma and Dave.

The winner of the first Vic Simpson Prize was...

Deborah Smith-Hackett for her presentation - Prickly Problems:

identifying patterns in hedgehog admittance data at Prickles and

Paws Hedgehog Rescue. Congratulation to Deborah for a fantastic

presentation, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all of our judges!

We are very happy to be able to share her presentation with you

all here - on our brand new Youtube channel.

The second prize was awarded to Megan Keville for her presentation - There must be somefin in the water: investigating spatial patterns of distribution in cetacean strandings around Cornwall.

Thanks to everyone who entered the competition – a great start to what we hope will become a regular event for CMG and we look forward to meeting everyone in person next year.

The other entries are also available to watch by following the links below. Thank you to all of the entrants for allowing us to share their wonderful presentations with our members.

Presentations:

Tamsin Harper: Conservation, can we do better?
Zac Lazrou: Kernow Conservation (unfortunately doesn't have audio)
Ethan Henderson: The Missing Mink
Clare Owen: Seaquest Southwest - Bridging citizens with the sea
Ellie Scopes: Small mammal density estimates

Posters:
Emily Gilford

Jack Ashton