THE FINALISTS

The winner will be chosen by a judging panel which will interview each candidate individually before deciding the person who will best represent the award. The winner will be revealed later this month. Each finalist gave MN their opinion on being nominated:

George Lepley

Age: 18 “I think a lot of winners are previous finalists and they encourage people to re-enter so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t enter. I hope I’m in a good position after last year. It’s really important for me to win because being a student at university it’s hard to make the finances to go rallying add up. Without winning I won’t be able to fund a full season of rallying.”

Tommi Meadows

Age: 17 “It’s something I’ve wanted to win for years and really wanted to make the final this year. I’m really happy to be in the final, and what an award, you can’t win anything like this anywhere else [in rallying]. If I were to win the award, the £5000 prize would be massive. My rallying is funded by myself and my dad. There are a few sponsors who help us but it would pay my entry fees for the BTRDA and that would open everything up, to do more testing and some Tarmac events on the side too, to get more experience and time in the car.”

Chris Sharpe-simkiss

Age: 23 “It’s great, I’m the first navigator to get into the final three, which is fantastic. The hard work is paying off. The likes of Chris Ingram have won it before, it’s fantastic to be nominated. Hopefully it can progress me into European rallying. The plan next year is to work more with Ed Fossey again and potentially compete in Belgium, so the award would mean a lot to my future plans and career.”