Award Winning ‘KILLING THE BISMARCK’
NATIONAL SALUTE TO
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NATIONAL SALUTE TO ‘KILLING THE BISMARCK’
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A prestigious award has been presented to Iain Ballantyne for his latest book, ‘Killing the Bismarck’, which was declared one of the UK’s top maritime books of the year in the Maritime Media Awards 2010.
Iain received a ‘Certificate of Merit’ from Countess Mountbatten of Burma, the President of the Maritime Foundation, during a glittering awards dinner held in the spectacular Nash Room of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Pall Mall, London. |
A distinguished panel of judges paid fulsome tribute to Iain’s book, their citation describing ‘Killing the Bismarck’ as ‘a book of intense drama, compiled with painstaking accuracy and vividly portrayed through the meticulous accumulation of first hand witness accounts.’
The ‘Mountbatten Maritime Award for best literary contribution Certificate of Merit’, to give the award its full title, also said of Iain’s work, that it forms an ‘authoritative and compelling description of the Bismarck’s last days, and how the loss of HMS Hood influenced the national mood, turning the pursuit and destruction of the Nazi battleship into a battle for survival.’
On presenting the award to Iain, and congratulating him on his achievement, the Countess remarked that her late husband, the distinguished movie producer Lord Brabourne had produced the famous 1960 film ‘Sink the Bismarck!’ which Iain admitted he had viewed as part of his background research.
“To receive the Certificate of Merit was without doubt one of the highlights of my career,” Iain remarked after the awards ceremony. “The life of an author is a pretty solitary one, slaving away over a computer keyboard, so to be saluted by my peers in such a high profile ceremony, and to have my craft appreciated at a national level is incredible. However, I think the real triumph belongs to the men of the Royal Navy ships and air squadrons whose bravery nearly 70 years ago, in seeking to catch and destroy Bismarck, provided me with incredible raw material that I was able to fashion into what I hope is a lasting memorial to their astounding feats. Above all, ‘Killing the Bismarck’ is an attempt to present the cruel reality of war at sea and in that way show how frail humanity endured despite the odds.”
This was Iain’s second Maritime Foundation award. In 2007 he was presented with a Special Recognition Award for making ‘a consistent and unwavering contribution to raising maritime awareness over the years.’
Beginning with his work as the Defence Reporter of the evening newspaper in the naval city of Plymouth, latterly Iain has continued to champion the cause of maritime awareness via his position as Editor of the global naval news magazine ‘WARSHIPS International Fleet Review’.
Iain has also written six books for Pen & Sword, his first, ‘Warspite’ having this autumn been published in paperback. Making frequent contributions to radio and television broadcasts on naval matters; Iain has in the past been involved as a scriptwriter on multi-media projects of a maritime nature for a London-based production company.
• The UK’s Maritime Media Awards were established in 1995, with a single journalism prize presented in memory of Desmond Wettern, one of the most well-known and respected naval correspondents of the last century. Over the years the event has steadily grown to become the largest and most prestigious within the maritime sector. Celebrities, leading figures in the TV industry and publishing, authors, journalists, business figures and senior naval officers - including the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope - were among the more than 200 people who attended the Maritime Media Awards 2010.
The Maritime Foundation was set up in the early 1980s to promote Britain’s interests across the entire maritime sector. Its purpose is to inform and raise public and parliamentary awareness of the importance of the UK’s maritime industries, commerce and defence activities.
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Copyright 2010 © Iain Ballantyne.