Industry turns out for Sporting Rifle awards ceremony

Marco Pierre White was the guest of honour at the Sporting Rifle dinner and awards ceremony, held at the 21 SAS Artists’ Rifles clubhouse as part of Bisley Live on 1 October.
The event saw the biggest names in the UK gun trade in attendance, as well as the Sporting Rifle team and many of the magazine’s top writers.
The first award of the evening was the Lifetime Achievement award, which went to Dominic Griffith, who Sporting Rifle editor Pete Carr described as a modern-day counterpart to Kenneth Whitehead and a massively respected head measurer.
Next up was Photographer of the Year, which went to Sporting Rifle’s Brian Phipps, who beat strong competition from the magazine’s other contributors.
The Stalking Book of the Year was a closely contested category, with Peter Carr’s The British Deer Stalking Bible and Dominic Griffith’s Deer Management in the UK taking runner-up slots.
But the winner was Among The Deer by Duff Hart-Davis, which Peter Carr described as “a brilliant and totally absorbing memoir that should be on every stalker’s bookshelf.” Among The Deer is available from the Sporting Rifle bookshop.
Simon Barr was awarded Writer of the Year for the consistent high quality of his articles, while Steve Sweeting – unfortunately not present to collect his trophy – scooped the Journalist of the Year award.
The final award of the evening, Deer Stalker of the Year, went to Marco Pierre White after the seven gold-medal roebucks and record perruque head he shot in 2010.
Sporting Rifle also used the awards ceremony to announce the launch of a joint trophy measuring venture with BASC. Dominic Griffith is set to lead the measuring service, while Marco Pierre White is to be its Patron.