Giles Barker, an accomplished cave photographer, lost his life while caving in Spain in 1992, and the award was set up to honour his memory.. This prestigious award is given to a person connected with any aspect of the underground image, either still or moving, in recognition of his or her excellence and contributions to the medium.
The award is announced annually at the international caving conference titled Hidden Earth, and this year was presented to David Webb. David has been involved with the medium for over twenty years, variously making films to a consistently high standard, helping to judge the Hidden Earth video salon (which he has also won), sharing his knowledge through teaching at workshops and always entertaining others with exceptional film shows. He is particularly recognised for his documentaries To Titan from the Top, concerning the discovery of Titan, and Fight for Life about the tragic loss of Neil Moss in Peak Cavern.
David’s prolific output at such a high quality makes him an entirely appropriate recipient of this twentieth Giles Barker Award, recognised with a hand-crafted statue of a cave photographer made by Ceris Jones.
Underground Assignments with David Webb 