NAVA Propertymark Novice Auctioneer of the Year 2018 was recently awarded to a woman for the fourth time in a row.

Debs Latham of property auctioneers SDL Auctions took the Auctioneer of the Year title from last year’s winner, Georgina Hilton, a novice auctioneer at Christie’s in London.

Latham joined SDL Auctions this year following a career as a civilian and military air traffic controller.

Some 12 contestants started the competition to auction a diverse range of five auction lots designed to challenge, encourage creativity and simulate the sort of lots that they would come up against in real-life auctions.

On offer to the room full of bidders – some of whom were given a brief to interject and challenge the novices – were; a taxidermy Buzzard, a disused water tower with expired planning permission, a Caterpillar Loading Shovel, a former diary, and a Fader digital audio console, with guide prices of anything between £100 to £180,000.

The judging panel consisted of experienced auctioneers Clive Emson, Richard Madley and David Sanderman.

Runners up were Lucy Gregory of Dreweatts Auctioneers and Nick Maddocks of independent West Country firm Gibbins Richards.

The competition was sponsored by Antiques Trade Gazette, Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers and Essential Information Group and was held at the Cambridge Belfry.

Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, described the competition as ‘a fantastic and exhilarating experience for bidders and competitors alike’.

“The value of the experience for novice auctioneers speaks for itself as previous winners and runners up have gone on to grow within auctioneering. Well done to everyone who took part.”