Wilhelm Putick (1856-1929), born in the village of Popůvky in Moravia in the Czech Republic, was one of the pioneers of the systematic exploration and documentation of Slovenian Karst. He was also one of the founding members of the Društvo za raziskavanje jam Ljubljana in 1910. In 2005 Društvo za raziskovanje jam Ljubljana (DZRJL) or Speleological Society of Ljubljana celebrated its 95th anniversary and took the opportunity to launch the first open competition named after Wilhelm Putick for the best achievement in cave exploration. DZRJL is pleased to announce the fourth annual Wilhelm Putick Prize (nagrada Viljema Puticka) for the best achievement in cave exploration in Slovenia in 2008. We cordially invite all who took part in cave exploration in Slovenia in 2008 to send their entries for the Wilhelm Putick Prize. The value of the prize is 1000 €, given by DZRJL for contributions to cave exploration and surveying. The prize winner will be announced on 18th March 2009. Rules of Entry and Eligibility:

1. The entries must be submitted by a speleological society or other legal entity (an individual cannot submit the proposal alone).
2. If the exploration was done by a group of cavers who are members of different caving clubs, or by an informal group of individual cavers, only the entire team can compete in this competition as a team of individuals. Such a team has to comprise everyone who took part in the exploration that is the subject of the submission.
3. Any exploration of a new cave or new part of a known cave with the entrance located in Slovenia is eligible and can be submitted for the prize.
4. Only the results of exploration carried out between 1st January and 31st December 2008 can be submitted for the prize.
5. Karst and caves in particular are very vulnerable therefore each exploration has to be conducted respecting the legal framework, and the rules of cave-friendly caving.
6. The deadline is January 31st 2009 (postmarked) for the submission of documents that have to be sent to the following address: Društvo za raziskovanje jam Ljubljana Luize Pesjakove 11, SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovenia The envelope should be labelled “Do not open, Wilhelm Putick Prize”.
7. All submissions for the competition must include:
   • The title of your work/achievement.
   • A statement explaining whether the entry is submitted by a speleological society or a group of individuals (from different speleological societies).
   • The name of the entrant (a speleological society or a legal entity) or the names and addresses of the entire team of cavers. You must include a contact surface mail and email addresses and a telephone number.
   • The description of the achievement, which must include a brief and clearly written presentation of the achievement, the location of the cave, the history of the achievement, the names of all the participants, and an explanation of why this should be considered the best caving achievement of 2008. The text should not exceed 4000 characters (including spaces). The documentation can include maps and other graphic items, reduced to A4. The text has to be written as an article, so that it can be used without substantial editing for publication in a printed or online journal. This documentation must be submitted in both printed and electronic format.
   • Full documentation of the caving achievement embracing at least all elements of registration documentation required to register a cave (basic data, map, plan, profile, table of surveys). Additional appendices can be added in the form of a 3D model, computer simulation, movie, pictures etc. A hard copy of all graphical appendices (pictures, maps, plans, etc.) must be submitted together with a CD with all the documents in the most common file formats (JPG, TIF, PDF, TXT, RTF, DOC). If the exploration was done in an already known cave, it must be clear from the documentation what section(s) of the cave was explored and surveyed in 2008 and which parts were explored and surveyed in previous years. For this reason, table of survey made in 2008 must be included to provide a clear distinction of which surveys were done in 2008.
   • A statement that the submitted caving achievement was done by none other but the speleological society or the group of individuals competing for the prize. And a statement that all the submitted data are truthful, correct and complete.
   • The number of a bank account to which the prize can be wired. If the entrant is a speleological society, this should be its bank account. If the entrant is a group of individuals, this must be the account of one of them, but a statement that the entire team agrees that the prize is to be wired to this particular bank account has to be added to the documentation.
8. By entering the Wilhelm Putick Prize, entrants are expressly authorizing DZRJL to use the text submitted during the course of the competition for the purpose of promoting cave exploration, in reports for publication, on a web site and through the media as well as all other forms of promotional/publicity materials. The material will not be used for commercial purposes.

The prize committee: The evaluation will be done by a committee that will base its decision and rank the submissions according to the following criteria:

• importance of the exploration in the territory of Slovenia and on a worldwide scale,
• length and depth of the explored cave and grade of difficulty of the cave or its sections,
• endeavours invested in this exploration,
• how strictly the rules of cave-friendly caving were followed,
• quality of the submitted documentation.

If there are no entries or the committee decides that none of the submissions can be announced as “the best caving achievement of the year”, the prize will not be awarded and the money will be transferred into the fund for next year's prize. The decision of the committee is final. The shortlist will be announced at the prize ceremony. The prize committee has 5 members:

• Uroš Herlec, PhD, Department of Geology, University of Ljubljana,
• Bojan Otoničar, PhD, Karst Research Institute, ZRC-SAZU,
• Mihael Rukše, Caving Club Novo Mesto,
• Bogomir Remškar, Caving Club Danilo Remškar Ajdovščina,
• Gregor Pintar, Speleological Society of Ljubljana.

The prize ceremony: The prize ceremony will be held in Ljubljana on March 18th 2009. The committee will choose 5 finalists who will each make a presentation, before the winner of the Wilhelm Putick Prize for 2008 is announced. Additional announcements: DZRJL will not participate in the competition. For additional information, please contact:

• By email: nagrada@speleo.net or
• By surface mail: Društvo za raziskovanje jam Ljubljana, Luize Pesjakove 11, SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovenia

The Wilhelm Putick Prize is donated by Treking šport d.o.o. with trademarks Petzl & Tendon.