Motor Press Guild Honors "Senna" Documentary and Outstanding Automotive Journalism Works at the 2011 Dean Batchelor Awards

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Motor Press Guild (MPG), the largest automotive media association in North America, announced the winners of this year's Dean Batchelor Award and Best of the Year winners at its 17th annual Dean Batchelor Award banquet on Tuesday, December 13, at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Best of the Year winners were named in the categories of Book, Article, Audio/Visual and Photography. They are:

2011 Dean Batchelor Award:

"Senna," by Asif Kapadia and Manish Pandey. This full-length documentary follows the Formula One career of the late celebrated racecar driver Ayrton Senna. "Senna" was also named the Motor Press Guild's Best Audio/Visual of 2011.

Best Book:

"Elva, The Cars, The People, The History" by Janos Wimpffen, published by David Bull Publishing. The book presents a captivating history of a not-so-famous British sports car and gives an informative picture of sports car racing in the 1950s and 1960s.

Best Article:

"Questor Grand Prix" by Tom Stahler in the July/August 2011 edition of Vintage Motorsport Magazine. The piece presents an in-depth look at the one-of-a-kind race held at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1971 that, for the first and only time, featured the best drivers from virtually every major racing series in the world.

Best Photography:

"Everybody's a Photographer" by Reinhard Klein from the September 2011 issue of Road & Track Magazine. According to Klein's shot of Miko Hirvonen's Ford Fiesta RS splashing through a water crossing at the Acropolis Rally, it takes as many photographers to capture a photo as will fit on a Greek hillside.

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Brock Yates, longtime executive editor of Car and Driver and screenwriter of "The Cannonball Run," was honored for his many contributions to both the automotive and entertainment industries.

Prior to choosing the Dean Batchelor Award winner, a panel of judges selects Best of the Year winners across the categories mentioned above. The Dean Batchelor Award winner is chosen from the Best of the Year recipients. While the award is open to any journalistic work in the automotive field, nominations must come from a current Motor Press Guild member.

ABOUT MPG

The Los Angeles-based Motor Press Guild (MPG) is the largest automotive media association in North America with more than 700 members. This non-profit trade guild is dedicated to promoting professionalism in automotive journalism through education and information exchange. Members include journalists from print, broadcast, and online outlets as well as public relations representatives, consumer groups and governmental bodies tied to the automotive industry. The organization hosts regular meetings featuring key figureheads in the auto industry and is widely recognized for its annual Dean Batchelor Award program and annual industry MPG Track Day.
 
For more information on the Motor Press Guild, please visit www.motorpressguild.org, their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter @MotorPressGuild. For media inquiries please contact MPG Publicity Chair Mike Caudill at 951-719-1040 or [email protected].

SOURCE Motor Press Guild