The Ness Award is an annual award of the Royal Geographical Society to travellers, particularly those who have successfully popularised Geography and the wider understanding of our world and its environments.[1] It was established in 1953 and named after Mrs Patrick Ness (1881–1962), an intrepid and well-to-do traveller throughout Africa and the first female Fellow of the Society.
Mrs Patrick Ness was born Elizabeth Wilhelmina Miller in Brighton in 1881 and married Patrick Powell Ness in 1903. She accompanied her husband to Kenya before the First World War and then returned alone in 1920, when she made several epic journeys across the African and Asian continents. In 1923 she crossed the Syrian Desert, in 1927 she travelled from Khartoum to Nairobi and on via the Congo to the Cape, the first European woman to travel on Lake Kivu. She later wrote a book of her adventures entitled Ten Thousand Miles in Two Continents [2][3]
Source: RGS
| Year | Name | Citation (where known) |
| 1954 | Charles W.M. Swithinbank[4] | for research in Antarctic glaciology |
| 1955 | Ernest Frederick Roots[5] | |
| 1956 | ||
| 1957 | ||
| 1958 | Anthony Gerald Bomford | |
| 1959 | J. Homes Miller[6][7] George W. Marsh [8] |
(jointly) Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition |
| 1960 | Raymond John Adie[9] | |
| 1961 | Robin Hanbury-Tenison[10][11] | |
| 1962 | ||
| 1963 | John Baird Tyson[12] | |
| 1964 | Dennis Alexander Ardus [13] | |
| 1965 | David Stoddart[14] | |
| 1966 | ||
| 1967 | Peter Opie-Smith[15] | for geodetic surveys in the Solomon Islands |
| 1968 | ||
| 1969 | ||
| 1970 | Dr John D Thornes | |
| 1971 | Lieutenant Colonel J D C Peacock | |
| 1972 | Major David N Hall | |
| 1973 | Dr D J Moffat | |
| 1974 | Colonel J M Adam OBE, OStJ, FRCP Ian Douglas Hamilton |
|
| 1975 | Adrian Thompson | |
| 1976 | Squadron Leader Tom Sheppard MBE | |
| 1977 | Lieutenant Colonel Harry R A Streather OBE | |
| 1978 | Miss F A Street | |
| 1979 | Nigel de Northop Winser | |
| 1980 | Richard Snailham | |
| 1981 | Chief Petty Officer S R Williams | |
| 1982 | Miss Shane Wesley-Smith | |
| 1983 | Roger Chapman MBE | |
| 1984 | Andy Eavis | |
| 1985 | Paul Vander-Molen | |
| 1986 | Dr Caroline Sargeant | |
| 1987 | Miss Nicola Bennett-Jones SRN | |
| 1988 | Dr John Matthews | |
| 1989 | Steve Bowles | |
| 1990 | Dick Willis | |
| 1991 | Dr Richard Crane | |
| 1992 | Mandip Singh Soin | |
| 1993 | Michael Asher | |
| 1994 | Alasdair Kennedy | |
| 1995 | Paul Salaman | |
| 1996 | Major Alastair Rogers | |
| 1997 | John Birdsall | |
| 1998 | Michael Palin | |
| 1999 | David Rattray | |
| 2000 | Nick Danziger | |
| 2001 | Peter Drake | |
| 2002 | Nick Middleton | |
| 2003 | Ray Mears | |
| 2004 | John Hare | for raising public awareness and conservation of endangered wild camels in Mongolia and China |
| 2005 | Neil Laughton[16] | for leadership of expeditions and encouraging others to recognise their potential as travellers |
| 2006 | John Pilkington | for the popularisation of geography and the wider understanding of our world |
| 2007 | Paul Rose | for supporting and promoting the popular understanding of geography |
| 2008 | David Wright | for the popularisation of geography among young people |
| 2009 | Neil Oliver | for popularising and promoting understanding of the British coastal landscape |
| 2010 | Professor Iain Stewart | for popularising geography and earth sciences |
| 2011 | Colin Thubron CBE | for popularising geography through travel writing |
| 2012 | Simon Reeve | for popularising geography through television travel documentaries and writing |
| 2013 | Wade Davis | for popularising geography through writing about places, cultures and history |
| 2014 | Nicholas Crane | for popularising geography and the understanding of Britain |
| 2015 | Robert Macfarlane | in recognition of his work in communicating 'geography to a wide public by means of writing about nature, landscape and place[17] |
| 2016 | Andrea Wulf | for popularising the histories of geography and of scientific botanical exploration via her book The Invention of Nature |
| 2017 | Kathleen Jamie | for outstanding creative writing at the confluence of travel, nature and culture[18] |
| 2018 | Rory Stewart, MP | for the popularisation of geography through the media |
| 2019 | Dervla Murphy | for the popularisation of geography through travel literature[19] |