The Tony Kent Strix Award was inaugurated in 1998 by the Institute of Information Scientists. It is presented by the UK e-information Group (UKeiG) in partnership with the International Society for Knowledge Organisation UK (ISKO UK), the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group (RSC CICAG) and the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group (BCS IRSG) and awarded in recognition of an outstanding practical innovation or achievement in the field of information retrieval and search.
Nominations must be for a major, sustained or influential achievement that meets one or more of the criteria listed below.
Science
The advancement of our understanding of information retrieval methods, experimentation and evaluation, at either the theoretical or the practical level. The scope includes approaches as diverse as linguistic, probabilistic, fact-checking or artificial intelligence applied to search.
Service Delivery
The development and management of systems, networks or services:
Ø Enhancement of the mechanisms/technology/standards underpinning information products or services
Ø Establishing an innovative information resource or service
Ø Innovations leading to improved accessibility/usability of information resources.
Education and organisational infrastructure
The provision of leadership in education, training, community development and/or collaboration to advance information retrieval at local, national or international level.
Submission guidelines
Nominations should take the form of a succinct justification (maximum 2 pages) for the individual or team nomination showing clearly which of the award criteria the nominee meets and how they are met. Please include full contact details, job title and qualifications of both the nominee and the nominator emailed to Richard Bridgen, UKeiG Hon. Secretary secretary.ukeig@cilip.org.uk and copied to: Gary Horrocks, UkeiG Business Coordinator info.ukeig@cilip.org.uk and Elizabeth Roberts, UKeiG Hon. Treasurer treasurer.ukeig@cilip.org.uk.
Please clarify in the email subject heading - ‘UKeiG 2026 Strix award nomination’.
Self-nominations will not be accepted.
Please include testimonials, letters of support, references, a selective bibliography relevant to the nomination, or links to supplementary information including professional profiles or social media, for example.
Please email info.ukeig@cilip.org.uk for more information and guidance.
Deadline
Nominations must reach the UKeiG by 6 pm GMT on Wednesday September 30th, 2026.
Further information
The worthy recipient of the international Tony Kent Strix Memorial Award for 2025 was Professor Noriko Kando of the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan for her pioneering role in information retrieval (IR) research, development and systems evaluation.
Further information about the Strix award is available on the UKeiG website.
Please share the news
The library and information science community is encouraged to raise awareness of these awards with individuals and groups in their networks and help encourage nomination submissions.
The winner will be invited to present a lecture at an online awards ceremony in January 2027.