Prizes for Australian scientists and innovators

Application creator

• The person who starts the application on the business.gov.au portal. This is often the same contact as the nominator, but may be a different person who is assisting with the submission of the application.
• The application creator completes the nomination form on behalf of the nominator.
• The application creator will have access to edit and submit the applications. As the account holder you will be the only person with permission to view the application unless you add participants.
• Page 4 – Applicant address: If the applicant is also the nominator, we recommend you input the nominator’s address.
• If the applicant is applying on behalf of the nominator, we recommend you (the applicant) put the address for the organisation that you work for.

Primary contact

• This person is the main contact for DISR and is usually the nominator or application creator.
• All correspondence will be sent to this person, including the invitation to stage 2 of the application process if successful. We may contact this person to confirm eligibility requirements.
• Primary contact details are collected on Page 11 of the nomination form.

Nominator

• The person who is nominating the nominee.
• Nominator details are collected on Page 5 of the nomination form.

Nominee

• The individual or team being nominated for a Prize.
• Nominee details are collected on Page 6 of the nomination form.

Supporter

• An individual identified by the nominator as someone who will support the nomination.
• The supporter’s role is to provide independent views on the nominee’s achievements against the assessment criteria.
• Supporters will not have access to the application form unless the application creator adds them as a participant.
• Supporter details are collected on Page 7 of the nomination form.

Independent referee

• Someone identified by the nominator or the Science Prizes Committee in addition to the supporters who will be approached for an independent reference on the achievement/s of the nominee.
• The referee’s role is to review the statements against the assessment criteria provided by the nominator and the supporter when contacted by the department.
• The nominator must contact Independent referees to gain their commitment to provide a referee report on the template provided by the Department before submitting their details at Stage 1.
• Independent referees will not have access to the application form unless the applicant adds them as a participant.
• Independent referee details are collected on Page 8 of the nomination form.

Statements from the nominator and supporters must:

• be on the template provided on this page
• use the letterhead of the organisation to which they belong
• specify their position within the organisation.
• observe word limits.

You must attach supporting documentation to the nomination form in accordance with the instructions provided in the form.

Note that attachments must be in a searchable format with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and therefore cannot be scanned.

CV format

The CV should be 2 A4 pages or less and be in a searchable format with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Therefore it cannot be scanned.

Attachment size and types

Each attachment cannot be larger than 2MB and can only be uploaded if they are one of the following file types: doc, docx, rtf, pdf, xls, xlsx, csv, jpg, jpeg, png, gif.

Naming conventions

The name of the attachment must be saved as follows:

Stage 1:

• CV: lastname_firstname_cv

Stage 2:

• Supporter statement: lastname_firstname_support1; lastname_firstname_support2
• List of published articles/books: lastname_firstname_list
• Certified evidence of the nominee’s Australian citizenship/permanent residency: lastname_firstname_cpr
• Certified copy of the nominee’s testamur (if applicable): lastname_firstname_testamur
• Declaration: lastname_firstname_declaration

The assessment criteria is different in Stage 1 and Stage 2 for the:

• Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation.

The assessment criteria is the same in Stage 1 and Stage 2 for the:

• Prime Minister's Prize for Science
• Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
• Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year
• Prize for New Innovators.