The Memorial Awareness Board (MAB), will not hold its Cemetery of the Year Award this year. Instead, a number of options are being considered including a photographic competition.

MAB was set up in 1984 by the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM) to promote stone memorialisation. It is being reinvigorated in the hope of getting more memorial masons to pay the voluntary levy that funds it, income from which has been slowly falling over the years.

The campaign is run by Mike Dewar’s London public relations agency, One, overseen by an executive. Last month (February) they met with the NAMM executive to discuss the development of the campaign.

As a result, the Cemetery of the Year competition that was started by Mike 14 years ago when he took over the MAB account and has become the mainstay of the campaign, will not be held this year.

Some masons have always felt the contest focuses too much on the cemetery and not enough on the memorials, although it has consistently achieved a considerable amount of publicity.

The intention now is to run it every other year and a number of other initiatives to promote stone memorials are being discussed, including a photographic competition, perhaps among professionals with a public exhibition of the works at a prestigious venue, or perhaps among the public in conjunction with a consumer magazine. More and better use will also be made of the MAB website.