PRESS RELEASE: Richard Osgood wins Current Archaeology’s prestigious Archaeologist of the Year award for 2019

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Richard Osgood collects the Archaeologist of the Year 2019 award.
Richard Osgood collects the Archaeologist of the Year 2019 award.
[Photo credit: Adam Stanford / Aerial Cam]

Top honours for Archaeologist of the Year at the prestigious Current Archaeology Awards 2019 went to Richard Osgood of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). In 2011, Richard co-founded Operation Nightingale – an award-winning initiative using archaeological fieldwork to aid the recovery of wounded veterans – and since then the project has gone from strength to strength. In the last year, its excavations have barely been out of the pages of Current Archaeology, including work at Barrow Clump, Rat Island, Bulford, and Barton Farm, which was also nominated independently in the Rescue Project of the Year category.

Since 2004, Richard has worked as Senior Archaeologist for the DIO, responsible for managing and preserving monuments and archaeological sites within the entire Ministry of Defence estate – including over 770 Scheduled Monuments and parts of 10 World Heritage Sites. Previously, he was Research Assistant to Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe and also advised Philip Pullman on archaeology in the His Dark Materials trilogy. Richard is a regular contributor on the BBC’s Digging for Britain.

The prize forms part of the celebrated Current Archaeology Awards given each year by Current Archaeology, the UK’s leading archaeology magazine. Archaeologist and educator Julian Richards announced the winners of the 2019 awards on 8 March, during the annual Current Archaeology Live! conference, held at the University of London’s Senate House.

Accepting the award, Richard Osgood said:
“I would like to honour [fellow-nominees for Archaeologist of the Year] Sophie Jackson and Christophe Snoeck, who have worked on projects that will have a massive legacy. I would also like to thank my boss and my team, all the readers of Current Archaeology, and all the volunteers and members of Operation Nightingale – this award is for their endeavours.”

For a full list of the 2019 nominees, visit www.archaeology.co.uk/awards


Notes for Editors: Current Archaeology Awards

  • Voted for by subscribers and members of the public, the awards recognise the outstanding contributions to our understanding of the past made by people, projects, and publications featured in the pages of Current Archaeology.
  • The 2019 Current Archaeology Award for Archaeologist of the Year is sponsored by BAR Publishing.
  • Operation Nightingale excavations have appeared in the following issues of Current Archaeology: Barrow Clump in CA 336 and CA 343, Rat Island in CA 339, Bulford in CA 342, Barton Farm in CA 345, and an overview in CA 338.
  • Current Archaeology was launched in 1967 and will publish its 350th issue next month.
  • This year’s conference was attended by over 400 people.
  • Awards include: Archaeologist of the Year, Book of the Year, Research Project of the Year, and Rescue Project of the Year.
  • For more info about CA Live!, visit: www.archaeology.co.uk/live

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