Computer conservation award launched in memory of Tony Sale

Tony Sale is being remembered with an award for computer conservation established in his memory.

The international award for computer conservation will recognise an individual or group that has made an outstanding engineering achievement in computer conservation that has preferably been completed within the last three years.

Tony Sale is perhaps best known for leading the team that rebuilt the Colossus computer. He was also a key figure in starting the campaign to save Bletchley Park in the early 1990s, in helping to found of The National Museum of Computing and in jointly establishing the Computer Conservation Society.

David Hartley, a recent past chairman of the Computer Conservation Society (CCS), which is managing the award, and member of the CCS Tony Sale Award committee, said: "When Tony Sale died unexpectedly last year, we felt compelled to celebrate his remarkable computer conservation achievements in some special way.

"For more than two decades, Tony made a huge contribution in promoting the public understanding of our computer heritage and in showing that computer conservation is a stimulating voyage of discovery rather than a simple recreation of a machine."

The award is open to any individual or group anywhere in the world for demonstrable computer conservation work that is already on display or could be made publicly accessible.

The closing date for nominations is 31 July 2012. An international judging panel will choose the winner who will be presented with the award at a event held annually in October.