Film-maker andeducator Michael Rabiger will receive the 2003 International DocumentaryAssociation (IDA) Preservation and Scholarship Award at the body's annual awardsin Los Angeles on Dec 12.

The honour isawarded to an individual or organisation that, in the words of the IDA'spresident Michael Donaldson, has made "substantial and enduring contributionsto non-fiction film-making".

"Michael Rabigerhas had an incomparable influence on an entire generation of documentarystudents, film-makers and fans," Donaldson said in a statement.

"In addition todirecting and producing more than twenty BBC documentaries, he taughtdocumentary film-making for more than three decades.

"Among his manywritings are the Directing the Documentary and Directing: Film Techniques andAesthetics books that are used by schools and professional film-makersworldwide."

After serving anapprenticeship at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios Rabiger moved into televisiondocumentaries in the 1960s at the BBC, Granada Television and other companies.

Between 1967 and1972 he directed 21 documentaries in six countries for BBC and helped pioneeran oral history series. He moved to America in 1972 to focus on teaching andwriting and is currently writing the libretto for an opera adaptation ofHardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge.