AHA tutor Dan Evans wins silver at this years Paul Morrison Guide of the Year Awards - Art History Abroad
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"I was not expecting to be with the eclectic mixture of individuals that shared this experience with me. I know I have made some friends for life. There is a magic in AHA tours that you never recapture. I have been inspired, encouraged and excited."
RH - Summer '09
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AHA tutor Dan Evans wins silver at this years Paul Morrison Guide of the Year Awards
Art History Abroad's Dan Evans lifts ‘Silver' at Wanderlust Guide Award, 2ndOctober 2008.
Knuckles were whitening last summer when we heard that our Dan Evans was on the ‘Short-list of 3' for Wanderlust Magazine's ‘Paul Morrison Guide Award - given to the guide or tutor the judges consider to be the year's most inspiring, accomplished, well-informed and generally brilliant to be with.
This particular award has firmly established itself as the supreme accolade for tour leaders. This year, judges included such luminaries as Bill Bryson, Graham Boynton (group travel editor of the Telegraph newspaper) and photographer Mark Carwardine.
Last night the tension mounted as we listened to the preambles at the Award Ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Then announcement came. Dan had won ‘silver'! The only Brit this year to be recognized as one of the world's top travel guides.
There were originally 170 guides nominated from every kind of tour company. Most of them came from far-away places and specialized in all manner of geographically exotic locations. Only one of the eight semi-finalists specialized in art - not perhaps the easiest subject among such boisterous physical competition.
That Dan Evans made it to the final group of three is a tribute to an engaging personality and delight in his subject - a delight that he is supremely able to communicate. That he came second only to a remarkable Egyptian, Esam Abd El Salam, who excels at a rather more touristic than aesthetic level, is in Dan's own words: ‘'A triumph not for me but for History of Art itself'.
Oxfordshire-born but now Suffolk-based, Dan's inspirational approach to his work was praised by the judges. ‘Dan has clearly touched and changed people's lives.' Said Bill Bryson
His infectious enthusiasm even prompted the judges to consider an art history holiday for themselves.‘That's the sign of an amazing guide,' said Mark Carwardine,' they can get you enthusiastic about a subject you didn't think you'd be interested in.' Graham Boynton added: ‘I want to travel with this guy.'
28-year-old Dan says about himself: ‘I love every aspect of my job. I've convinced 16 year old school pupils to dance round Bramante's Tempietto in Rome as a means to understanding architectural harmony. I've explained the entire history of Verona to a bunch of Gap Year students at the top of a bell tower using a piece of cardboard and a turquoise scarf... I am always looking for the hook - the simple idea that is readily understood but which leads onto the bigger, sometimes initially obscure, but profoundly important concept...'
His loyal following of past students enthusiastically approved, and rooted for him for the Award (which carries a big Second Prize of a £3,000 bursary). Dan plans to use the money as a foundation stone for a far-reaching Art History Abroad scholarship scheme for disadvantaged students.
( Last Updated: 06-10-2008 )
