Tony Kent Strix Award

The Strix Award is presented in memory of Dr Tony Kent, a past Fellow of the Institute of Information Scientists, who died in 1997. Tony Kent made a major contribution to the development of information science and information services both in the UK and internationally, particularly in the field of chemistry. The name 'Strix' was chosen to reflect Tony's interest in ornithology, and as the name of the last and most successful information retrieval packages that he created.

The Award is sponsored by the Journal of Information Science, published by SAGE.

The Award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the field of information retrieval that meets one of the following criteria:

• development of, or significant improvement in, mechanisms for the retrieval of information
• development of, or significant improvement in, accessibility to an information service
• a sustained contribution over a period of years to the field of information retrieval
• a major and/or sustained contribution to the theoretical or experimental understanding of the information retrieval process
• a major contribution to fostering the education, training and/or general awareness of the importance and the technicalities of information retrieval.

Key characteristics that the judges will look for in nominations are innovation, initiative, originality and practicality. The Award is open to individuals or groups from anywhere in the world.

2007 Award

The 2007 Tony Kent Strix Award for advancing the field of information retrieval was awarded to Mats Lindquist.

The award is given in recognition both of Professor Lindquist's key role in the development of accessibility to an information service, and for his sustained contribution to the field of information retrieval generally over a number of years. Between 1980 and 1992 Mats Lindquist alternated as President and Marketing Director of Paralog, a software company which developed and marketed text retrieval software: the TRIP system is still in very much in use. During that time he was mainly responsible for moving the system from an experimental service to a fully fledged commercial operation - something which parallels the work of Tony Kent in moving the UK Chemical Information Service from an experimental basis at Nottingham University to a fully operational service. and, indeed, for some months they worked together.

The nomination made clear that this is only one aspect of Professor Lindquist's work. His contributions to information science are too many and varied to list individually - as an academic and as senior executive officer at the National Library of Sweden, his commitment to moving information retrieval from a 'technical' solution for specialists to a more usable tool for a wider range of information managers and users particularly stands out.

The nomination, with its close links to Tony Kent, is particularly strong - it is for an outstanding contribution to information retrieval - practically focused and grounded in the best principles of information science.

About SAGE

SAGE Publications is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore.

The Journal of Information Science is an international journal of high repute covering topics of interest to all those researching and working in the sciences of information and knowledge management. The Journal seeks to achieve a better understanding of the principles that underpin the effective creation, organization, storage, communication and utilization of information and knowledge resources. It also seeks to understand how policy and practice in the area can be built on sound theoretical or heuristic foundations to achieve a greater impact on the world economy.

All enquiries to awards@ukeig.org.uk