Nominations Open for Australian Mental Health Prize

Deadline: 17-Jul-23

Nominations are now open for the Australian Mental Health Prize, which seeks to recognise the important and ground-breaking work that many Australians are doing for mental health.

The Australian Mental Health Prize’s aims

• Raise public awareness on the importance of mental health
• Provide an incentive to improve services and outcomes for people with mental illness

Categories

• The four categories of awards are:
  • Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander:
    • To recognise and celebrate outstanding Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mental health leadership at a national or community level.
  • Lived experience:
    • To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership by someone with lived experience of mental health, either personally or as a supporter, at a national level.
  • Professional:
    • To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership in the clinical, academic or professional sectors at a national level.
  • Community hero:
    • To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership at a State or community level.

Prize Purpose

• The purpose of the Prize is to recognise outstanding contributions to mental health in Australia by an individual.
• The Prize will raise awareness of the importance of mental health and highlight the outstanding work of Australians and Australian residents in this field.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Prize is awarded annually to Australians who have made outstanding contributions to either the promotion of mental health, or the prevention/treatment of mental illness – in areas such as advocacy, research or service provision. The prize will recognise contributions undertaken in Australia which are of national significance.
• Entry is by nomination only.
• Any member of the public or a third party organisation (public, non-government or private) may nominate an entry for the Prize.
• Self-nominations will not be accepted.
• Employees of UNSW Sydney may nominate a person for entry.
• Current UNSW employees are ineligible for nomination.
• If a nominee is not over the age of eighteen (18), a parent/guardian must accept the nominee’s entry on the nominee’s behalf.
• A nominee must be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident.

Judging

• Chance plays no part in determining the winner of the Prize.
• The winning nominee will be decided by a panel of judges comprising the Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Board.
• The panel of judges shall select 4 winners of the Prize, one for each category listed:
  • Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander: To recognise and celebrate outstanding Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mental health leadership at a national or community level.
  • Lived experience: To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership at a national level by someone with lived experience of mental health, either personally or as a supporter.
  • Professional: To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership at a national level in the clinical, academic or professional sectors.
  • Community hero: To recognise and celebrate outstanding mental health leadership at a State or community level.
• Selection of the winning entries will be based on the panel’s assessment of outstanding contribution to either:
  • the promotion of mental health; or
  • the prevention or treatment of mental illness, in areas such as advocacy, research or service provision.
• If no one is deemed suitable for any of the prizes, no award shall be made for that prize.
• The panel of judges’ decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
• All discussions and deliberations of the judging of the Prize will be strictly confidential.
• The names of the winners of the Prize will not be made public until each person has accepted their nomination for the Prize and selection as a winner in writing.
• All potential winners must agree to their individual announcement as a winner before the public announcement of the winners.

Details

• The four winners will be announced on the 25 September 2023.

For more information, visit Australian Mental Health Prize.