Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards for Global Leaders

Deadline: 28-Feb-21

The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards has been launched to recognize global excellence in food innovation and community impact.

Arrell Food Institute recognizes global leaders who are ensuring future food security for the planet, and hopes to inspire new leaders to take bold steps towards change. Scientific excellence and community engagement are necessary to overcome the challenges our world will face in feeding 9 billion people and beyond.

The first award recognizes a researcher, or group of researchers, who has advanced understanding of food production, processing, distribution, consumption, safety and/or human nutrition, with a significant positive impact on society.

The second award recognizes an individual, or group of individuals, who has contributed to improved nutritional health and/or food security, with a focus on strengthening disadvantaged communities.

Fields of achievement for the scientific award include, but are not limited to, food science, crop or livestock genetics, agro-ecology, pest management, supply chain management, soil health, human nutrition, food processing, food packaging, or food safety.

Fields of achievement for the community award include, but are not limited to, household nutrition, urban poverty, Aboriginal food security, traditional food systems, socioeconomic policy, poverty elimination, or community development.

Award Details

The Arrell Food Prizes come with the following terms:

Each of the two prizes will be worth $125,000 CAD comprising a $100,000 cash award for the personal use of recipients and up to $25,000 per award for travel and accommodation of the recipients, administered by the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph.
An award citation and a commemorative item will also be presented.
Recipients are expected to participate in a program of events. In particular, award recipients may be asked to attend the next Arrell Food Summit. There may also be other engagements organized, subject to mutual availability.
Given the current global pandemic a determination on the travel and accommodation component of the award will be made some time during the 2021 calendar year.

Eligibility Criteria

Citizens of any country are eligible for nomination, with no restrictions on gender, race, religion, creed or residency.
Nominations may come from private companies, academic institutions, governmental units, charitable foundations, and not-for-profit organizations. In the case of multiple nominations from a single organization, only the one with the latest date will be accepted.

Criteria

The criteria for awarding the Arrell Food Prizes are as follows:

The individual or group being nominated will have made exceptionally significant and documented contributions to either their scientific understanding related to food production, distribution or sales, or human nutrition/consumption; and/or at the community level in markedly improving nutrition, including access to, or distribution of food.
The nomination package must clearly demonstrate how the individual or group being nominated played a critical leadership role in achieving the above noted contributions.
Nominees must be able to attend the award ceremony and ancillary events.

Nomination Procedure

Academic institutions, governmental units or private / public organisations may submit a nomination for the Arrell Food Innovation Awards. Each organization may submit one application to each award. Nomination packages are strictly confidential and the identities of nominators, nominating organizations and nominees are kept in strict confidence, except for the winners. Self-identified demographic information will be collected to monitor their ongoing efforts to consider the full range of human achievement. The nomination package must clearly demonstrate how the individual or group being nominated played a critical leadership role in achieving the outcomes, and must include the following:

Information on the nomination (suggested length – up to one page)
- Nominee’s name(s), current position, mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number.
- Which award (“research” or “community”) they are being nominated for.
- The name and contact details of the organization submitting the nomination.
- An endorsement by a senior official (President, Vice-President, Managing Director, Chief Executive, Chair, Dean) of the nominating organization, verifying the accuracy of the information and endorsing the nominee(s) as the only nomination from the organization.
Nomination statement (suggested length 3-5 pages)
- Description of the nominee’s achievement in terms of the science of food or for contributions at the community level.
- Description of the impact of the nominee’s contribution.
- Cross referencing to the letters of support and additional documents as described in the next two points.
Letters of support from up to 3 individuals and/or organizations who know the nominee’s work, but are not directly associated with the nominee’s work or organization (suggested length up to 4 pages).
Additional documents that could include: articles describing the nominee’s contributions and/or the impact of her/his/their work; other awards and recognitions; publications by or about the nominee that directly relate to their contribution (suggested length up to 5 pages).