Between 1907 and 1925 the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

newspaper, initially on the initiative of its proprietor Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...

, awarded numerous prizes for achievements in aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

. The newspaper would stipulate the amount of a prize for the first aviators to perform a particular task in aviation, or to the winner of an aviation race or event. The most famous prizes were the £1,000 for the first cross-channel flight awarded to Louis Blériot

Louis Blériot

Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...

 in 1909 and the £10,000 given in 1919 to Alcock and Brown

Alcock and Brown

British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland...

 for the first transatlantic flight between North America and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

The prizes are credited with advancing the course of aviation during the early years, with the considerable sums offered becoming a much-coveted goal for the field's pioneers.

Prizes

Year announced	Year awarded	Prize	Amount (£)	Winner(s)
1906	1910	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  to Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...  flight	10,000	Louis Paulhan Louis Paulhan Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan, known as Louis Paulhan, was a pioneering French aviator who in 1910 flew "Le Canard", the world's first seaplane, designed by Henri Fabre....
1907	1907	Model aeroplane competition	100	Edwin Roe Alliott Verdon Roe Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, FRAeS was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company... , W. Howard
	1908	Quarter mile out and return flight	100	Henri Farman
1908	1909	Cross-channel English Channel The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...  flight	1,000	Louis Bleriot Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...
	1909	Circular mile	1,000	John Moore-Brabazon
	1910	Second cross-channel flight	100	Jacques de Lesseps Jacques de Lesseps Jacques Benjamin de Lesseps was a French aviator born in Paris on 5 July 1883, killed in an air accident presumably on 18 October 1927 along with his flight engineer Theodor Chichenko. He was the son of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps...
1910	1910	Best cross-country aggregate	1,000	Louis Paulhan
1910	Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...  to London flight	50	John Moisant
1910	1911	Circuit of Britain Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race The Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race was a British cross-country air race which took place from 1911 until 1914, with prizes donated by the Daily Mail newspaper...  race	10,000	André Beaumont (Jean Conneau)
1912	1912	Aerial Derby cup	105	Thomas Sopwith Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS was an English aviation pioneer and yachtsman.-Early life:...
1913	1913	Aerial Derby cup	105	Gustav Hamel Gustav Hamel Gustav Hamel was a pioneer British aviator.Hamel was prominent in the early history of aviation in Britain, and in particular that of Hendon airfield, where Claude Graham-White was energetically developing and promoting flying.-Biography:Gustav Hamel was educated at Westminster School and chose to...
1913, 1918	1919	Transatlantic flight Transatlantic flight Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...	10,000	Alcock and Brown
1913
Circuit of Great Britain for "waterplanes"	5,000
1914	1914	Aerial Derby cup	105	W. L. Brock
1919	1919	Aerial Derby cup	210	Gerald Gathergood
1923	1923	Economy flight for motor gliders	1,000
1925	1926	Economy flight for dual-control light aircraft of British construction	3,000	George Bulman (Hawker Cygnet Hawker Cygnet -See also:-Bibliography:*Mason, Francis K. Hawker Aircraft since 1920. London:Putnam, 1991.ISBN 0 85177 839 9.-External links:*... )
1930	1930	Solo flight from England to Australia	10,000	Amy Johnson Amy Johnson Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s... Britain between the wars, 1918-1940

In addition four "consolation" prizes were awarded.

Year announced	Year awarded	Prize	Amount (£)	Winner(s)
1906	1910	London to Manchester flight	105	Claude Grahame White Claude Grahame White Claude Grahame White was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the Daily Mail sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race.-Early life:...
1910	1911	Round-Britain flight	200	Jules Védrines
1913	1913	Round-Britain flight for British "waterplanes"	1,000	Harry Hawker Harry Hawker Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, was an Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a long series of successful military aircraft.-Early life:...
1913	1919	Transatlantic flight	5,000	Harry Hawker, Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve