Autocar has partnered with Jaguar and the Guild of Motoring Writers to relaunch the Sir William Lyons Trophy, a competition for young writers looking to make a start in automotive journalism.
The winner will have their work published in a print edition of Autocar and will be offered a week’s work experience at our Twickenham offices. The competition is open to those aged between 17 and 21 who do not currently hold a staff position on a motoring publication.
The trophy is named after Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons and was first presented in 1966. It has helped launched the careers of many prominent automotive journalists and was most recently presented in 2018.
Submissions must be written in the style of Autocar’s Why I Love column, examples of which can be found linked at the bottom of this article.
It must be 450 words and can be on any motoring-related subject you are passionate about. For reference, Autocar staffers have recently written columns about topics as diverse as the Nürburgring wars, Mercedes-Benz Unimogs and Disney Pixar’s Cars. It's important to celebrate your subject matter and focus solely on that.
Entries will be judged by Autocar editor-in-chief Steve Cropley and Jaguar UK director Santino Pietrosanti. Entries are to be submitted via the Guild of Motoring Writers website.
Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw said: “Autocar is delighted to work with the Guild of Motoring Writers and Jaguar as we make our latest investment in the next generation of automotive journalists.
“Empowering the next generation of writers is a proud tradition of Autocar. Many of the industry's best-known names have launched careers here and today we run a thriving apprenticeship scheme that continues to bring in new talent.
“We can’t wait to see what submissions we receive and look forward to crowning a winner later this year.”
Pietrosanti said: “Jaguar is proud to continue Sir William Lyons’ legacy by fostering and supporting the next generation of creative talent in automotive journalism.”
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In this age of equality and the government pushing older people to retrain to find a new career direction. They see a competition and think great a chance only to be bashed down with an age limit. We are told modern apprenticeship are supposed to be open to all working age people.
The motoring press are missing out on people who through life experience could bring a different point of view. People with physical disabilities are often over looked by car reporters and manufacturers. They come to cars with a different set of criteria . Then there are those with neurodiverse element to deal with again this group is often is often overlooked as its assumed they cannot do "Grammar" they cannot construct a sentence or use punctuation. Again overlooked all there working life but have a huge passion for cars This is where they see a competition that could change there life but then it destroyed again because that person is someone aged 50 with physical disabilities and neurodiversity and all they ever wanted was for the motoring press to see through different eyes they want manufactures to stop ignoring those with differences they want to give a voice to those who are ignored those who cannot use touch screen and smart phone those who need buttons to remain because without these elements they cannot drive a car they are denied the freedom of the road the joy of a road trip the frustration of M6.
Does it matter that people will never hear this person voice, that manufacture will continue to exclude there year of knowledge about seats and driving position pedal types.
Today, September 4th, is the 114th Anniversary of Sir William Lyons birth. That should have been worth a mention.