Eligibility for nomination
Eligibility for nomination is broad.
- Australian nationals or permanent residents based in Western Australia
- Individuals or small teams (normally up to 5 members) but not organisations or businesses
- If a team is nominated, some members may be located outside of Western Australia providing the team is primarily based in WA
There is no restriction on the type of individual or team who can be nominated. They might be a researcher, clinician, policymaker, health administrator, leader of a health NGO, leader of a community organisation, philanthropist, business leader, media figure or indeed anyone who has had a transformational impact on medical research, health policy, clinical practice, clinical service and/or community outreach.
What are the criteria for the award?
Acknowledging an outstanding contribution to the health and wellbeing of the Western Australian community
The purpose of the Byron Kakulas Medal is to acknowledge the outstanding contribution by an individual or small team from Western Australia in the sphere of healthcare in the broadest sense. This includes the areas of medical research, health policy, clinical practice, service delivery and community outreach, the goal being to celebrate the contribution of an individual or team that has improved the health and wellbeing of the Western Australian community.
Rewarding innovation and transformational change
In particular, the Medal seeks to reward innovation, innovation in this context being a new idea or a transformational change in something that already exists that has led to a significant breakthrough or improvement in health outcomes in Western Australia. The benefits may well go beyond Western Australia, but there must be evidence of a demonstrable benefit to the Western Australian community.
It is important that the nomination:
- provides evidence that the contribution made has been innovative and transformational. Specifically, what has it transformed and how did it challenge prior thinking?
- outlines the difficulties overcome in taking the idea from the point of conception through to implementation
- provides evidence of the impact of the contribution in Western Australia and beyond and outlines how this it can be independently verified
- outlines what strategies were adopted for consultation with and/or involvement of consumers and community bodies as a way of maximising benefits to the community