Winner of the Iceberg Competition Announced

As part of its Greenprint programme, The Hay Festival (which continues until 1st June) launched a world-first initiative to raise awareness of global warming (and the importance of tracking icebergs) by offering one young literature fan the chance to nickname and ‘adopt’ an 88 x 17 nautical mile Antarctic iceberg – with submissions judged by Professor Julian Dowdeswell (director of the Scott Polar Research Institute), and Dame Jacqueline Wilson (author of children’s books such as The Story of Tracy Beaker, Girls in Love, and Vicky Angel). This is the first time that an iceberg will be referred to by anything other than its number and co-ordinates, and that a member of the general public has been invited to name one.

The competition received an overwhelming response both at the festival and online, with over 500 entries in total, and too many good name suggestions to make judging the prize an easy undertaking. But in the end, Professor Julian Dowdeswell and Dame Jacqueline Wilson decided the best name for the iceberg, known as C19-A, was ‘Melting Bob’.

This name came from Max Dolan, aged six, who attends St. Bede Church of England Primary School, Winchester in Hampshire. He chose the name because “the iceberg bobs in the water and is melting”. He also said that he would like to parent an iceberg, because “it’s huge and cool.” Max wins a Scott Polar Research Institute Certificate (signed by both the staff and Jacqueline Wilson, the co-judge), regular updates about how his named iceberg (currently off the coast of Antarctica) is progressing.

Dame Jacqueline Wilson made the following comment on the choice of Melting Bob as the winner:

“Melting Bob is a fantastic name for an iceberg. It’s comic and a great play on words; wholly appropriate for an entity which, as Max points out, is both bobbing and melting. It also has a very friendly ring to it, which helps us to relate to it, making the iceberg seem more like a local friend who we should look after. Well done, Max!”

Professor Julian Dowdeswell said he chose it because:

“I like the name because it encompasses the two ways in which icebergs become smaller - by melting, of course, but also by fragmentation which is caused by flexing in ocean waves. This flexing could be regarded as the 'bobbing' of the winning suggestion.”

Names that were close runners-up, noted for their originality were ‘Kangaroo Desert’, ‘White Fright’, ‘Vast Tip’ and ‘Antarc-Ticker’.