The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain has announced that the ninth annual Michael Sedgwick Award has gone to Louis Coatalen - Engineering Impresario of Humber, Sunbeam, Talbot and Darracq by Oliver Heal. The Michael Sedgwick Award is decided by an independent panel organised by the SAHB from a list of books recommended to them. It is normally presented, together with a £250 award from the MSMT at the SAHB Autumn Seminar at the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club's home, The Hunt House at Paulerspury near Silverstone. This year the event has had to be cancelled as a consequence of the pandemic, so the announcement has been made online. The selection of this book is the third time in the award's nine-year history that the winning book has been one that has been supported by the MSMT which is gratifying to the MSMT Trustees as the independent panel has not only validated their decision to support the book, they have deemed it to be the best of the year.
This success comes after the book was nominated for the 2020 Royal Automobile Club Book of the Year. Whilst in this instance it was not successful, it was a tribute to the quality of this self-published work that it was nominated alongside books from elite publishing houses.
