NOTE: A project can be nominated in only one category. If you are unsure as to which category and criteria best fit your project, please email the AES Awards and Recognition Working Group Chair to seek their advice in confidence .
This Award recognises the development of an exemplary integrated evaluation system and/or implementation of the evaluation system.
The work should be designed to be sustainable; and be undertaken in partnership with clients or users.
Nominees who have only developed an evaluation system will be considered for this Award. Nominees who can demonstrate excellent development and implementation will be assessed more highly than those who have only developed a system.
This Award recognises Indigenous evaluation practice. This includes evaluations led by Indigenous peoples, and/or conducted in partnership with Indigenous peoples. It also recognises evaluation capacity building with Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Pacifica.
Work nominated for the Award should:
– generate positive impacts for the Indigenous communities
– nurture Indigenous self-determination and sustainability#
– empower Indigenous people in evaluation practice
– strengthen the accountability of Indigenous evaluation.
Empowerment may include work in building evaluation capacity, building a culture of evaluation, and/or an awareness and interest in evaluation, and evaluation policy development. Nominations are assessed by a panel of Indigenous peers.
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# The underlying intent of this point is to encourage a conceptual shift in practice from doing evaluations on Indigenous peoples towards doing evaluations with, and/or by, Indigenous peoples. For further guidance on the meaning of Indigenous self-determination and sustainability in this context, please refer to the descriptions in the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research – Consultation Draft, 2019. Non-Indigenous and First Nations evaluators can refer to the AES (2021) First Nations Cultural Safety Framework for further guidance on principles and practices for moving towards culturally safe evaluations.
This Award recognises the best article published in the Evaluation Journal of Australasia (EJA) published in the last 12 months. The Award is a joint initiative of the EJA editors and the AES Awards and Recognition Working Group. The EJA editors make the selection based on a review of all eligible articles in relation to professionalism, ethical conduct and the quality of the publication.
A quality publication will contain the following attributes:
– sound use of evaluation theory and approaches
– includes a literature review to substantiate the relevance of the evaluative study and context
– contributes significantly to scholarship, research, and/or pedagogy
– demonstrates originality of thought and careful investigation
– is well-written and engaging for its intended audience.
This Award recognises exemplary evaluation work conducted within the Australasian public sector that has been used to effect real and observable changes in policies or programs. It recognises the work of all the partners of the evaluation: those who commissioned it, conducted it and implemented its findings.
Work conducted by contractors, consultants or academics employed and managed by a public sector agency is eligible for nomination. However, work conducted wholly by external consultants, academics or contractors without management or oversight by a public sector agency is not eligible.
For the purposes of this Award, the Australasian public sector is defined as the executive branch of government (including quasi-autonomous bodies) at the local, state and national levels, or the administrative arm of the judiciary.
Nominations for this Award must demonstrate that at least one of the following elements was conducted within the Australasian public sector:
– design of the evaluation and evaluation instruments
– fieldwork
– data analysis
– reporting.
Nominations focusing on evaluation systems within public sector agencies will not be considered for this Award; they should be submitted under the Evaluation Systems Award.
Nominations need to explicitly demonstrate how the evaluation work has created observable changes in public sector policies and/or programs.
Nominations need to include evidence showing how the changes have occurred as a result of the process of evaluation or as a result of the evaluation’s findings. Although the changes need not have occurred immediately, nominations will demonstrate a probable causal link between the evaluation process or products, on the one hand, and the changes in policies and/or programs, on the other.
Nominators’ assertions about the extent and nature of the changes created by the evaluation must be supported by documentary evidence, including statements from third parties who are familiar with those changes in policies or practices.
This Award recognises emerging evaluators who have been working in the field of evaluation for fewer than five years. In this time, they will have made a made a significant contribution to the profession or practice of evaluation and will have demonstrated both quality and effectiveness in their work. Contributions may include evidence of leadership in professional activities or substantial accomplishments in their work.
This Award recognises exemplary evaluation work that has substantially enhanced the social good. Social good is defined as benefits that are experienced by the community. This Award is particularly focused on evaluation work which both recognises and helps to redress inequalities in society. It is concerned with promoting access and equity for communities or groups which experience disadvantage and marginalisation. The evaluation work may, for example, focus on issues such as poverty, deficits in health or education and geographic or social isolation. The disadvantage and marginalisation experienced may also intersect with issues such as race, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical or intellectual ability or ethnic background.
The evaluation work which is recognised may reflect a range of activities. This includes, for example, the conduct of program and policy evaluations, evaluation education, advocacy, sponsorship of particular kinds of evaluation, and efforts to promote the use of evaluation.
