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Entries open for science Oscar's
Friday, February 4, 2011
Entries are now open for the nations prestigious and most comprehensive science awards, the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.
With 24 prizes valued at $240 000 on offer, the Eureka Prizes reward Australia's greatest science thinkers, innovators, educators and communicators.
The Prizes, now in their 22nd year, award excellence in four categories: research and innovation; leadership and commercialisation; science communication and journalism; and school science.
New to this year's line up are awards for young science leaders, mentors of young researchers, innovative use of technology, commercialisation of innovation and infectious diseases research.
Australian Museum Director Frank Howarth said that winning a Eureka Prize can put a scientist's lifes work on the map.
"Feedback suggests winning a Eureka Prize can make a real difference. On the back of a win, many improve their professional profile, some even receive a promotion or pay rise," said Mr Howarth.
Dr Rowena Martin won her Eureka Prize in 2010 for uncovering the mechanisms of drug resistance in the malaria parasite.
"Winning the Eureka Prize was a career highlight. It has given my work greater exposure and recognition within both the scientific community and the general public," she said.
Other past Eureka Prize winners include Australian's of the Year Ian Frazer, for developing life-saving cervical cancer vaccines and Tim Flannery for his contribution to the environmental debate.
Entries can be made online at www.australianmuseum.net.au/eureka until midnight Friday 6 May 2011.
Finalists for the 2011 Eureka Prizes will be named in August and the winners will be announced at a red-carpet gala award dinner in Sydney on Tuesday 6 September 2011.
