Nominations open: New Annual Award Program

GAEBA welcomes nominations for the new Annual Award Program. Awardees will be announced at this years World Eye Bank Symposium. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the diversity, expertise and contributions of individuals and organisations around the world that are involved in the fields of eye donation, allocation, development, transplantation, training and research. Awardees will be recognised for their commitment and contribution at the national and international level.

++++++++++++++++++++++++ Deadline extended until May 8^th ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nominations are welcome from all corners of the world.

Categories

There are two Award Categories, being:

1. Outstanding National Contribution
2. Outstanding International Contribution

Please indicate the category in the application.

Awardee Benefits

1. Awardees will be invited to present at the 2022 GAEBA World Eye Bank Symposium (WEBS) on their contribution to the profession and field or the specific project outlined in their application.
2. Attendance fee will be waved for the 2022 GAEBA WEBS.
3. GAEBA will promote the awardees within their network and media.
4. Awardees will have the opportunity to promote their award success to their own network.
5. Awardees will be invited to be part of the 2023 GAEBA Awardee Judging Committee.

 Who can nominate and how

1. Individuals, organisations and/or collaborations may self-nominate or nominate others.
   1. A contact person must be identified if an organisation or collaborative is nominating.
   2. When nominating others, please indicate that the nominee has consented to be nominated.
2. Nominees must meet the criteria indicated in the application form.
3. The completed application form and two written references are to be submitted to awards@gaeba.org by May 8^th
4. Nominees must indicate how they/their project meet and/or works toward the recommendations of GAEBA’s Barcelona Principles.
5. Nominees must indicate how they/their project works beyond the boundaries of their own organisation to elevate and assist the eye tissue and/or eye care field either nationally or internationally. For example (but not limited to):
   1. Specific: service advancement, a specific project, a piece of research, a specific event or development that benefited an individual or groups of individuals, or an accumulated recognition of a wider body of work or volunteerism from the nominee.
   2. Topics/sub-specialties such as: direct clinical care, donation, processing and allocation services, non-clinical eye bank service (e.g. quality of finance), policy development, teaching, knowledge sharing, capacity development and research such as: clinical trials, benchwork, social and sciences.
6. Nominees may be nominated in both the national and international award categories (this assists those individuals/organisation/collaboratives working on multiple projects); however they may only appear once in each category. Should they appear more than once, GAEBA will only accept the first application received.
7. Individual and collaborative nominations cannot involve projects where a member of the Judging Committee is involved in the project.

How to nominate

1. Complete the application form.
2. Submit the application form and two written references to awards@gaeba.org .
3. Nominations must be received no later than April 30^th

How will the awardee be selected

1. Nominees that meet the criteria will be forwarded to a Judging Committee (JC) for their review.
2. The JC will vote independently based on a set criteria.
3. The JC will be examining how the nominee and/or their project meets the application criteria.

Notification of the Results

GAEBA will notify the nominees of the outcome by late May. The Outcomes are final. GAEBA will not provide comment or feedback on the outcome.

Awardee activities

1. Upon award acceptance, the successful awardees will be asked to provide a photo and biography of themselves (or their team/s) for promotional purposes within GAEBA’s network and media (e.g. awardee announcements).
2. They will be invited by GAEBA to participate in the GAEBA WEBS. Upon acceptance, the awardee will be required to meet the Symposium speaker requirements (e.g. provide a presentation overview, presenter declaration, biography and prepare a presentation).
3. In 2023, they will be contacted and invited to be a member of the 2023 GAEBA Annual Award Judging Committee. Instructions of the role will be provided at that time.

2022 nominee applications for the following year

• 2022 unsuccessful-nominees may be nominated again in 2023.
• 2022 successful-awardees may not be nominated in 2023, though may do so again in 2024.

The Judging Committee (JC)

1. The JC includes individuals from a range of backgrounds, nationalities and positions.
2. JC members cannot nominate for an award.
3. JC members cannot vote on a nomination from their organisation/collaborative.

Award Review Management Team

GAEBA has developed an Award Review Management Team, that will:

1. Oversee the Award process to ensure eligible nominees are fairly considered for the award under uniformed processes.
2. Confirm the eligibility of the nominee before forwarding to the JC.
3. Ensure JC members do not vote on applications from their own organisation or those they are involved in.
4. Collate the JC results to determine the outcome.
5. Release the results to the GAEBA Chair and WEBS Convenor for announcement and planning purposes.
6. Liaise with the awardee, WEBS Convenor and GAEBA Chair to promote the winners and schedule their presentation at the WEBS. Instructions on how to prepare and up-load the presentation will be provided.

Privacy

Applicants will remain confidential to Award Management Review Team and the JC. Successful-awardees will be publicly listed on acceptance of the award.