The J E Jennings Award is made annually by the Geotechnical Division to honour the late Prof. J E Jennings and the outstanding role played by him in the development of geotechnical engineering in South Africa.

The award consists of a certificate which will be presented to a member of the Geotechnical Division who is the author of a meritorious publication relevant to geotechnical engineering in South Africa published during the previous year, either in South Africa or elsewhere.

Nominations, with motivation, will be invited annually from individual members and are to be submitted to the Secretary of the Division. The nominations will be considered by a subcommittee appointed by the Division Committee. The decision of the subcommittee will be subject to ratification by the Geotechnical Division Committee.

In the event of no publication of sufficient merit during the year being considered, the subcommittee may recommend that no award be made for that year. The subcommittee may decide to divide the award between the authors of publications it considers of equal merit.

If the subcommittee considers more than one publication during the year to be of exceptional merit, it may recommend that the runner-up be carried forward for consideration together with nominations for the following year.

The award(s) shall be presented at the Division AGM or other suitable occasion as determined by the Division Committee.
Past recipients:

• 2021 Luis Alberto Torres Cruz and J. Carlos Santamarina for their publication ”The critical state line of nonplastic tailings”
• 2020 Nico De Koker, Peter Day and Andrew Zwiers for their publication ”Assessment of reliability-based design of stable slopes”
• 2019 Stott & Dr E. Theron “Variability of Suction in expansive clays.
• 2018 Stott & Dr E. Theron “Estimation of Shrink/Swell Potential and Variability of Clays by Small-Scale Suction Tests”
• 2017 Stott & Dr E. Theron “Shortcomings in the Estimation of Clay Fraction by Hydrometer.” Published in the Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, Vol. 57 No.1, March 2015, Pages 67-76
• 2016 HFT Barnard & Prof G Heymann. “The Effect of Bedding Errors on the Accuracy of Plate Load Tests “. Published in the Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, Vol 57 No 1, March 2015, Pages 67–76.
• 2015 Prof. S.W. Jacobsz, Prof. W.J.vdM. Steyn & Prof. E.P. Kearsley. “Centrifuge modelling of Ultra Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements (UTCRCP)”. Published in the proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics 2014 (ICPMG2014), Perth, Australia, 14 – 17 January 2014.
• 2014 Dr. Mahongo Dithinde & Prof. Johan Retief are awarded the 2014 Jennings award for their two part paper. Part 1 “Resistance statistics” Part 2 “Implicit reliability of existing practice”
• 2013 No award
• 2012 G. Smit & CRI Clayton. “The behaviour of modern flexible framed structures undergoing differential settlement”.  Proceedings Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference 2011, 31 August – 2 September, Kruger National Park, South Africa.
• 2011 Michelle Theron, Fritz Wagener, Phillip Steenkamp “Seismic stability assessment of the raising of the Geita Tailings Storage facility, Tanzania”
• 2010 A Negro (Brazil), K Karlsrud (Norway), S Srithar and M Ervin (Australia), E Vorster (South Africa) received award for Prediction,Monitoring and Evaluation of Performance of Geotechnical Structures. 2010 Proc. XVII International Conference for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5-9 October, Alexandria, Egypt.
• 2009 Adriaan Meintjies, Alan White and Gary Jones are awarded the 2009 Jennings Award for their paper Delayed stability failure of a dam on soft clay published at the Problem Soils in South Africa Conference held in 2008
• 2008, No award
• 2007 BLIGHT, G.E. Opportunities, challenges and responsibilities for environmental geotechnics. 5th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics. Cardiff.
• 2006 VORSTER, T. E. B., KLAR, A., SOGA, K. AND MAIR, R. J. 2005. Estimating the effects of tunneling on existing pipelines. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, 131(11).
• 2005 GRÄBE, P.J. , SHAW, F.J. AND CLAYTON, C.R.I. (2005). Deformation Measurement on a Heavy Haul Track Formation. Proceedings of the 8th International Heavy Haul Conference, June 2005, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• 2003 PIERRE VAN DER BERG, CHRIS R.I. CLAYTON & D.B. POWELL”Displacements ahead of an advancing NATM tunnel in the London Clay “, Geotechnique, Vol. 53, No. 9, 2003.
• 2002 SW JACOBSZ, ROBERT J. MAIR, JAMY R. STANDING, K. SOGA, T. SUGIYAMA & T. HAGIWARA”Centrifuge modelling of tunnelling near driven piles”, Proceedings, International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground, Toulouse 2002.
• 2001 GERHARD HEYMANN AND CHRIS R.I. CLAYTON”Stiffness of geomaterials at very small strains”, Geotechnique, Vol. GE51, No. 3, 2001.
• 2000 ANDY W. FOURIE, DONOVAN ROWE & GEOFF E. BLIGHT “The effect of infiltration on the stability of the slopes of a dry ash dump”, Geotechnique, Vol. 49, No. 1, 1 – 13.
• 1999 Not awarded
• 1997 GEOFF E. BLIGHT”Rankine Lecture: Interactions between the atmosphere and the Earth”, Geotechnique, Vol. GE47, No.4, 1997.
• 1996 GERHARD J. KEYTER, A. M. GOLIGER and JOHN S. STIFF “Mapping of Soil Variability: A Case Study in Theresa Park”, Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers”, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 21-28,1996.
• 1995 MARIUS DE WET”Elasto-chemical stabilisation of dispersive”: 11th Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics Found Engineering, Cairo, 1995, Vol. 2, 284-294.
• 1994 GEOFF E. BLIGHT “Master profile for hydraulic fill tailings beaches”, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Geotechnical Engineering, 107(1), 27-40, 1994.
• 1993 JOHN A. WATES & ANDY W. FOURIE “Surficial Sloughing on Steep Embankments”.
• 1992 IAN BRACKLEY & PAUL SANDERS “In-situ Measurement of Total Natural Horizontal Stresses in Expansive Clay”: Geotechnique, Vol. 42, No. 2, 1992.
• 1991 JOHN P. EVERIT “Load transfer functions and pile performance modelling”: 10th Regional Conference for Africa on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Maseru, September 1991.
• 1990 ROSS PARRY-DAVIES AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS “Lateral Support In Surface Excavations” Code of Practice 2nd Ed SAICE 1989.
• 1989 GEOFF E. BLIGHT & MIKE DANE “Deterioration of a Wall Complex Constructed of Reinforced Earth”: Geotechnique, Vol. 39, No. 2, 1989.
• 1988 GRAHAM W. PLANT, GAVIN P. BYRNE, MALCOLM B. JAROS and CLIFF M. MACMILLAN “Settlement Performance of a Raft Supporting a 27 Storey Hotel on Estuarine Deposits in Durban” Civil Engineering in SA, October 1988
• 1987 J TERRY PIDGEON “The Prediction of Differential Heave for Design of Foundations in Expansive Soils Areas”: 9th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Found Engineering, Lagos, Vol. 1, 117-128, 1987.
• 1986 BRIAN E HALL “Pumping Resistant Layers Below Railway Ballast” Geotechnical Division: Filters Symposium, Johannesburg, 1986. “Geotextiles Under Railway Track in South Africa” 3rd International Conference on Geotextiles, Vienna, 1986.
• 1985 KEN SCHWARTZ “Collapsible Soils” in Problem Soils in South Africa – State of the Art, The Civil Engineer in SA, July 1985, Vol. 27, No. 7, 379-393 .
• 1984 No award
• 1983 FRITZ VON MALTITZ WAGENER “Engineering Construction on Dolomite”, PhD Thesis, University of Natal, 1983.
• 1982 No award
• 1981 GARY A JONES and J. A. VAN ZYL “The Piezometric Probe – A Useful Investigation Tool”, 10th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Stockholm July 1981.
• 1980 A.L. MELVILL and D.C.R. MACKELLAR “The identification and use of dispersive soils at Elandsjagt dam South Africa”, 7th Regional Conference for Africa on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Accra, June 1980.
• 1979 A. B. A. (TONY) BRINK “Engineering Geology of Southern Africa”, Vol 1. The first 200 million Years of Geological Time”, Building Publications, Pretoria, 319 pages (1979).
• 1978 FRANK NETTERBERG “Prospecting for Calcrete Road Materials in South and South West Africa”, Civil Engineer in South Africa, January 1978, Vol. 20, No.1, 3 -10. “Calcrete Wearing Courses for Unpaved Roads”, Civil Engineer in South Africa, February 1978, Vol. 20, No. 6, 129 – 138.