The work of a champion of Manx culture has been recognised.

Stephen Miller has been given the Reih Bleeaney Vanannan this year.

He was recognised for his work as a researcher into Manx folklore, folksong and folk dance, as well as the figures and collectors involved with the Celtic revival.

Mr Miller’s timeand expertise working on precious archives in the Manx Museum and beyond for more than 40 years have resulted in what Culture Vannin says is an impressive body of work in the field of Manx and Celtic studies.

He shares that information online, in print and in person.

His work has been made available to others on his Chiollagh Books website, by monthly contribution of his research to the Kiaull Manninagh Jiu Manx Music and Dance Newsletter, within the Ballaugh Heritage Trust newsletter, as well as through his own publications and public talks.

Director of Culture Vannin Breesha Maddrell said: ’Stephen remains someone determined to tease remarkable stories relating to Manx cultural and social history out of the archives in order to bring life to some of the key characters who have shaped our island, to understand what their focus was in terms of collecting, recording or promoting Manx culture, and to share his findings with other researchers.’

Mr Miller grew up in the island, attending Douglas High School for Boys, and went on to gain a BA in history and an MA in folk life studies from the University of Leeds.

Much of his working life was spent attached to various universities, and he has lectured on folklore and folk life.

Most recently, his work has taken him to Austria, where he worked at the Austrian Academy of Sciences on the Austrian Academy Corpus as well as teaching at the University of Vienna.

In spite of being based away from the island, he has been a frequent visitor, collecting oral history reminiscences from people during some trips, walking the hills during others.

He has also spent a lot of time in the national archives held by Manx National Heritage, transcribing, collating and making sense of old letters, notebooks and other collected papers.

His interest in Manx folklore encouraged him to transcribe and re-print such important works as William Cashen’s Manx Folk-Lore and John Rhys’s Manx Folklore and Superstitions, keeping important texts accessible to new audiences.

Dr Maddrell said that his transcriptions of letters and documents, his tracing of informants and collectors through census material, all of this work had helped a better understanding of the work of various waves of Manx antiquarian and cultural revival and interest.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Mr Miller’s Chiollagh Books website making it one of the longest running websites in the field of Celtic Studies.

As well as works mentioned above, the series also includes reprints of Clague’s Manx Reminscences, Roeder’s Manx Notes and Queries, Skeealyn Cheeil-Chiollee: Manx Folk Tales, as well as two editions of Mona Douglas’s Collected Writings on Manx Folk Dance and Song. The Manx Notes series on the website now stands at an impressive 410 entries.

Mr Miller is interested in folklore and digitisation within an international context, too, and his research interests extend beyond the Isle of Man to include other figures in the Celtic Revival, as well as Scottish folklorists such as the Reverend Walter Gregor.

His research has been published in national and international journals such as Béaloideas, Béascna, Folklore, Folk Music Journal, Isle of Man Studies, Northern Scotland, Proceedings of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Review of Scottish Culture, Studia Japonica Celtica, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, among others.

Mr Miller has been invited to share his research at prestigious institutions such as Cecil Sharpe House in London.

Nominations for the award singled out his 2019 collaboration with Culture Vannin on the production of ’a beautiful edition of Karl Roeder’s Manx Notes and Queries, Ghosts, Bugganes & Fairy Pigs’, which they described as ’his most sumptuous offering so far’.

’It’s fascinating and addictive,’ commented one proposer. ’His knowledge of the material is acknowledged as second to none’, noted another.

Mr Miller was presented with a medal and a cheque, and named Mooinjer Veggey as his chosen Manx cultural cause for the additional donation.

For the first time, a certificate designed by Julia Ashby-Smyth was also presented, depicting Manannan with his flowing cloak, staff and Eric Austwick-inspired headdress, mirroring the design of the trophy.

The selection panel, comprising representatives from Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh, Yn Chruinnaght, Manx National Heritage, the Isle of man Arts Council and Culture Vannin, named mr Miller ’Manannan’s Choice of the Year’ in recognition of his research into Manx folklore, music and dance and its collection.

Dr Maddrell said: ’Without his research and, most importantly, his generosity in sharing what he finds, Manx Studies and Manx culture would not be the same today.’