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 Awards Committee chair Ian Patrick, to seek his advice in confidence.
This award recognises an exemplary evaluation study or project in any field which has made, or has the potential to make, a significant contribution to the practice or use of evaluation in Australasia.
This award recognises the development of an exemplary evaluation policy, integrated evaluation system, evaluation program, framework and/ or implementation of evaluation policies, systems, programs or frameworks. The work should be designed to be sustainable; and be undertaken in partnership with clients or users.
This award recognises evaluations and evaluation processes of a community development initiative, or an evaluation that, through its processes, has supported community development.
For the purposes of this award, community development is considered to be a process of collective effort in which individuals and/or groups act together to effect change in their own life or within their community and the decisions affecting them.
The award recognises evaluation work that addresses the needs of specific interest groups and/or those often not included or not effectively engaged in evaluation studies (e.g. culturally and linguistically diverse, Indigenous, youth, women).
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:
- support positive outcomes for the Indigenous communities
- promote sound, respectful and appropriate practice of evaluation
- engage Indigenous people in evaluation practice, and
- strengthen the evaluation capacity of Indigenous peoples.
Capacity building 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.
Initiated by AES member Darrel Caulley, this award recognises the best journal article, conference paper, research paper, undergraduate or postgraduate thesis or other peer reviewed publication in evaluation. To be eligible, the publication must have been first published during the past 24 months.
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.
For the purposes of this award, the Australasian public sector is defined as the executive branch of government (including quasiautonomous 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 policy and/or evaluation systems within public sector agencies will not be considered for this award; they should be submitted under the Evaluation Policy and Systems Award.
Work conducted by contract staff employed and managed by a public sector agency is eligible for nomination. Work conducted wholly by external consultants, academics or contractors is not eligible.
Nominations will explicitly demonstrate how the evaluation work has created observable changes in public sector policies and/or programs.
Nominations will 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 an AES member for his/her outstanding career contribution to attaining the objectives of the AES, to evaluation theory and/or practice and to the evaluation profession in Australasia. Contributions must be demonstrated through evidence but not necessarily across all three areas.