University Awards FAQs

Any University of Adelaide staff member or titleholder may submit a nomination.

Self-nomination is not permitted. This includes nominators who are a member of a nominated team.

All academic and professional staff may be nominated for an Award with the following exceptions:

• Members of the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive are ineligible

Titleholders may be nominated for the Award recognising exceptional contributions made by a titleholder, and may form part of a team nomination provided that nomination includes other academic and/or professional staff.

Yes! Teams may be nominated along with individual staff and titleholders.

Ensure that nominators are not members of a nominated team as this would be considered a self-nomination.

Yes, nominations will not be accepted if the nominator self-nominates, has not secured Head of School/Branch endorsement, or nominates an ineligible staff member, titleholder or team.

The Awards Framework outlines who is eligible to be nominated for the various awards. Additionally, all members of Vice-Chancellor’s Executive are excluded from nomination.

Self-nomination is the nominator nominating themselves for an individual Award or as part of a team nomination

As a nominator, you should seek approval from the nominee prior to submitting your nomination. If the nominee has any special circumstances that may be relevant to their nomination, these can be included within your nomination statement. Special considerations can include:

• career interruptions or delays such as maternity/parental leave
• flexible working arrangements
• late entry to academia
• career break to enable work in a different field, with different responsibilities including industry experience
• caring responsibilities such as for children, elderly parents or other family members
• extenuating circumstances resulting from COVID-19 
• visa delays impacting on grant or NHMRC applications
• illness, disability or injury
• other relevant circumstances.

You may choose to work with the nominee to prepare the nomination statement and any supporting evidence, however, there is no obligation to do so.

There is no limit to the number of team members that may be included in a team nomination, so long as they are eligible and have all made a significant contribution to the achievement or activity for which they are being nominated.

Online nominations forms can be accessed under Award Nominations during the nomination period.

Once you have processed the online nomination form and supporting evidence, this is automatically sent to the relevant Head of School/Branch Head for endorsement and then to the Organisational Performance Team.

Unfortunately, the online system does not allow for this. We strongly encourage you to prepare your nomination statement using a text editor like Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) where you can transfer your text into the Values statement and nomination statement boxes when you are ready to submit. Please do not use Microsoft Word as it is not compatible with the online forms

You will be given the option of uploading up to 2 pages of supporting evidence when submitting the online nomination form. Supporting evidence provides you with an opportunity to verify what has been written in the nomination statement, rather than introduce new information. Any new information will not be considered by the shortlisting or selection committees.

Nominations must address contributions made within the five years preceding the call for nominations.

Nominations open Monday 24 June and close Friday 26 July.

You are encouraged to discuss the nomination with the nominee’s Head of School or Branch as it will be automatically forwarded to them for their endorsement once you submit the nomination. 

Nominations must clearly articulate how University Values are exemplified by the individual or team being nominated. This requires a brief explanation that specifically addresses the Values selected in this section of the nomination form.

Once you complete the online nomination form, it is automatically sent to the nominee’s Head of School/Branch for endorsement.

For team nominations, please seek endorsement from the Head of School/Branch Head of the staff member that you have selected as the team representative.

When the person nominating you contacts you for approval to submit the nomination form, you can provide the nominator a paragraph to be included within the nomination statement advising of any special circumstances that you feel may have impacted on the achievements outlined in the nomination. This information will be considered by the relevant Shortlisting Committee, and if shortlisted, the Selection Committee.

Award recipients will be selected by the Selection Committee.

The Selection Committee may seek advice from outside of the Committee in order to ensure the most deserving nomination is successful, and will consider the staff member’s achievement relative to opportunity.

No, the University Awards are completely separate from the Teaching Awards. For more information regarding the Teaching Awards, including the Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence, please visit the Teaching Awards webpage.

Individual award recipients will receive a prize of $5,000, and team recipients will receive a prize of $5,000 for the team.

For individual awards, prize money will be paid via payroll for staff and Accounts Payable for Titleholders. Academic staff may elect to have their prize money transferred into an available consulting fund if they wish, rather than through payroll.

For team awards, payment will be made as a lump sum into a relevant project code to be used at the team’s discretion to support team building or professional development activity.

Awards will be presented to recipients by the Vice-Chancellor at an event on 21 November 2024.

The University Awards for Outstanding Achievement will be conducted annually.

Please direct all feedback and suggestions to hrorgperf@adelaide.edu.au. Each year, a review is conducted of the Award round with the intent of ensuring the Awards are as meaningful and efficient as possible.