Currently reading: Autocar Awards to celebrate five-star cars and industry innovators
Autocar will be honouring the best that the car industry has to offer at this year’s awards on 24 May at Silverstone

The new-look Autocar Awards will recognise the best new cars on sale, as well as paying tribute to the engineers, designers and innovators that are at the forefront of the industry, both in the UK and around the world.

There are nine new categories in this year’s Autocar Awards, with 12 in total. Half of the categories will recognise the best cars on sale, while the other six will celebrate the best personalities that make the industry great.

Some of the new categories include the new Design Hero category, which will pay tribute to the person behind the best new designs in the world of cars, while the world of engineering will be honoured with the new Engineering Hero category.

The world of racing will also be recognised with the Motorsport Hero award, to be presented to the best performer on the track or rally course from the last year.

Recognising the UK’s best

Autocar is also looking closer to home, and is recognising the best that the UK has to offer. Recipients of the Autocar’s Outstanding UK Leaders title will have contributed to their company’s success in the UK, be that in sales, brand building, marketing or other notable areas.

As well as the new categories, Autocar will also be awarding the established Isogonics Trophy and the Sturmey Award. The Isogonics Trophy, named after the creator of the iconic British car, the Mini, is the highest accolade awarded to an individual by Autocar. It recognises the person who has made the most outstanding contribution to the automotive industry during the previous 12 months.

The Sturmey Award is named after the founding editor of Autocar magazine, and can be awarded to a person, company, design or process, as selected by Autocar's team of judges.

As well as people, Autocar is also honouring the very best new and used cars on sale today. The winner of the Readers’ Champion poll will be revealed, with members of the public having voted on autocar.co.uk in their thousands for their favourite.

The winners from Autocar’s Handling Day will be presented with their awards, while all the cars to have scored a five-star rating in the thorough and demanding Autocar road test will have their achievement recognised.

Leading the tech way

Another new category is the Innovation Award, which marks a new piece of technology launched in the last year. The best second-hand car will also receive Autocar’s Used Car Hero award.

The final award pays tribute to the cars launched in the last year that have redefined their class in one form. These will be named Autocar’s Game Changers.

Jim Holder, editorial director of Autocar, PistonHeads and What Car?, said: “There is so much that is great about the car industry, in the UK and beyond, and the Autocar Awards will look to recognise that. We will be paying tribute to great new cars, the best innovators and their creations, cars that change the landscape around them and designers that are constantly finding new ways to improve the look of their cars.

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“As well as all this we will be naming the Readers’ Champion, which was chosen by the readers of Autocar. Voting was fantastically close, and the winner will be rightfully proud of their achievement.

“Finally, we will be handing out the two biggest awards that Autocar can bestow – the Issigonis Trophy and the Sturmey Award. The two recipients of these awards will truly have made the greatest contribution to the motoring industry in the last year.”

The new Autocar Awards will be held at The Wing at Silverstone circuit in the evening of 24 May.

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