1. OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the award is to encourage excellence in research planning and execution and communication of results by young members to the Society's annual Conference.

2. NAME AND FORM OF THE AWARD

  1. The Award will be called the Young Member's Award
  2. The form of the Award will be a certificate and a cheque for $500.00

3. CONDITIONS

  1. Requirements for both the Submission Abstract and the manuscript for publication are similar to those applying to a normal Contributed paper.
  2. Entrants for the Young Member's Award will usually be expected to participate in a specific session at the annual Conference. For this reason, the Management Committee reserves the right to pre-select entrants for this session from the submitted abstracts. All entrants will be notified by mail during March (following committee meeting) whether they will compete for the Award.

4. ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility for the Award is restricted to the following;

  1. Full or student members of the Society; AND
  2. Under the age of 35 immediately preceding the conference and less than 2 years since completion of PhD (if PhD is held); AND
  3. Members who are the first senior author of the paper concerned, having made a substantial contribution to the planning, execution, analysis and preparation of the information; AND
  4. To the first or second technical presentation by the member at the Society's annual Conference.
  5. A member is eligible to enter for the Award twice, provided that the Award was not received on the first occasion.

5. PROCEDURES

  1. The Society's Secretary shall call for applications for the Award at the same time as the call for abstracts of papers for presentation at the Society's next annual Conference.
  2. Applicants must indicate on the abstract form the intention to compete.
  3. Upon receipt of the abstract the Secretary will write to the selected young members outlining eligibility and enclosing a copy of the rules and conditions of the Award.
  4. The eligibility form must be countersigned by the Supervisor/Head of Department confirming eligibility conditions 4(ii) and 4(iii). The form must be returned when the full paper is submitted for refereeing. The entrant must be a financial member of the Society at this point

6. ASSESSMENT

  1. The judging panel will be the Society's Immediate Past-President (Chairman), Vice-President and Editor, provided that they have not been associated with any of the papers under consideration. Membership of the panel may be changed in any one year at the discretion of the Management Committee.
  2. The panel will individually assess each paper and presentation for content, clarity, adequacy of interpretation, efficiency of answering questions and communication skills. For a copy of the Young Member Award Evaluation form please see table below.
  3. The Award may be withheld at the panel's discretion.

 

Young Members Award Evaluation Form

Evaluation Criteria
Paper
Presentation
Total
Content: Importance/Relevance
20
5
25
Clarity: Logical sequence, language
15
10
25
Adequacy of interpretation: Conclusions agree with data, appropriate data analysis, adequate discussion
15
10
25
Efficiency of answering questions
n/a
10
10
Communication skills: Visual aids, voice, timing etc
n/a
15
15
TOTAL
50
50
100

 

7. PRESENTATION

  1. The Award will be presented at the Conference Dinner by the Society's President or his nominee.
  2. The Society's Treasurer shall be responsible for having the cheque for the Award in the hands of the President at the Conference.
  3. A small citation prepared by the Chairman of the judging panel will be published in the Society's Proceedings in a form acceptable to the Editor.
  4. The name of each recipient will be recorded in a list published in each Proceedings.

8. AWARD FUNDS

The award will be made from the Awards’ Fund established from the interest accruing from the Society's investments.