Kevin McCloud, presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, will be one of a panel of judges to select the winners of the 2004 Pilgrim Trust Conservation Awards.

The Conservation Awards reward excellence in preserving cultural heritage and this year include for the first time the new Digital Preservation Award, which will recognise leadership and achievement in the preservation of digital cultural resources.

The scheme is open to projects completed by conservators working in every heritage field – on individual artefacts, museum collections, historic buildings and library and archival treasures and resources.

Of the individual awards, the Award for Conservation is worth £15,000; the Student Conservator of the Year, £10,000; the new Digital Preservation Award, £5,000 and the Anna Plowden Trust Award for Research and Innovation in Conservation, £2,000.

The shortlist for the four awards will be announced next spring and the prizes presented at the British Library in June 2004. Details: www.resource.gov.uk