In recognition of the excellent contribution that postdocs make to the research in the Physics Department at the University of Warwick, the Head of Department, Prof David Leadley, has initiated an award for the best paper published by a research fellow this year. Chris Patrick and Santosh Kumar from PRETAMAG have jointly won the first award for their paper “Rare-earth/transition-metal magnetic interactions in pristine and (Ni,Fe)-doped YCo5 and GdCo5” Phys.Rev.Materials 1, 02411 (2017). The paper was consider to be well-written and to convey clearly the outcomes of the joint theory-experimental activities. The interpretation of results and insight into the materials that this joint approach has enabled was particularly commended.