In 2000 the British Dam Society instituted an award to the authors of a paper which made a significant contribution to dam engineering or reservoir development.  Andy Hughes as Chairman at the time, and who was then managing the Longdendale Reservoirs for North West Water (now United Utilities) suggested the award after helping the late Geoffrey Binnie with his many books, and having developed a high regard for the engineering carried out by Bateman.

The award is named after the illustrious Victorian dam engineer John Bateman, and is given for a paper in which at least one of the authors is a member of the BDS.

John Frederic La Trobe Bateman was involved in the construction of reservoirs and waterworks through much of the 19th century, many of which were in northern England, but a number also in Scotland and Ireland.  These included the Loch Katrine works for Glasgow and the Thirlmere Scheme for Manchester.  A full obituary of Mr Bateman is available in the 1889 ICE Proceedings, and available here.

The Bateman Award is made every two years by a small panel of BDS members, with the papers considered having been published in the conference proceedings, as well as in all the issues of Dams and Reservoirs and any other relevant publications from the last two years.  The papers are assessed for technical content, originality and readability.  It is an award rather than a prize, and no nominations are required.

Each author receives a framed picture showing photographs of Mr Bateman and the Longdendale chain of reservoirs just north of Glossop which he designed and built.  A plaque on the frame gives the author's name. 

The panel for the current award comprised Andrew Pepper, Paul Farnell, Liz Rivers and Rachel Davies.  One paper was on everyone's short list, and when the combined short list of papers was scored that paper did indeed gain the highest mark.

That paper, which the panel felt made the most significant contribution to dam engineering or reservoir development in the last two years, was published in the Dams and Reservoirs issue dated August 2015 and was titled 'How prepared are we for a reservoir emergency?' by Gemma Morris and Stephen Shakespeare of Welsh Water.  It is recommended reading for all involved with reservoirs.

The authors were presented with their framed award pictures at the BDS evening meeting in London on 16 January 2017 by the BDS chairman, Dr Andy Hughes (photograph available here).