Recognising brilliant young minds
Last year, on the first anniversary of the birth of COSMOS magazine, we established the Bright Sparks awards – an annual event where we recognise the top 10 Australian scientists under 40 who have excelled in their fields. We're doing it again this year with the 2007 Cosmos Brights Sparks, now open.
Australians love winners: they worship their sporting heroes and praise their successful business people, but don't often appreciate the scientific excellence in the country. The Cosmos Bright Sparks awards are an attempt to highlight the extraordinary talent in the laboratories and universities of the country, many of them young and already showing great promise.
Nominations for the 2007 awards are considered by the stellar Editorial Advisory Board of COSMOS, which includes Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and former Young Australian of the Year, Dr Bryan Gaensler. The final 10 winners are then selected by the editors of COSMOS in consultation with Melbourne neuroscientist Dr Alan Finkel, 2005 Clunies-Ross medallist and Chairman of the COSMOS Editorial Advisory Board.
Winners have their portraits taken and are profiled in the October/November 2007 issue of COSMOS – an issue that will focus on Australia's emerging talent for science, technology and innovation. A ceremony will be held in late September where the 2007 Bright Sparks are presented with their certificates.
COSMOS is a print magazine produced in Australia with a global agenda. Only two years old, it has already won 14 local and international awards, inlcuding Magazine of the Year, Editor of the Year (twice) and the Reuters/IUCN Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting.
Find more about COSMOS magazine, or about its publisher, Luna Media. If you're interested in advertising in COSMOS, click here.
Science isn't just a career, it's a way of changing the world!
Wilson da Silva
Editor-in-Chief, COSMOS
Proudly sponsored by Peugeot
HOW TO NOMINATE A BRIGHT SPARK
Entries accepted by email or post.
Complete the downloadable PDF entry checklist and submit it as an attachment (along with all of the items listed below) to: Bright Sparks entries
OR mail it by post to:
Bright Sparks Awards
PO Box 302
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Entries are open to scientists aged 40 years of age or younger as at 26 September 2007. Entrants must be Australian citizens, or permanent residents of Australia who are currently living and working in the country.
Applications close on Monday 2 July 2007
2007 BRIGHT SPARKS AWARDS | ENTRY CHECKLIST
Print out the Bright Sparks entry checklist and fill it out for postal entries, or copy the information below into a text document and attach to email entries.
Name of candidate:
Affiliation:
Date of birth:
Contact telephone:
Contact email:
Area of research/work:
Why the candidate deserves to be a Bright Spark (60 words):
Description of the skills and achievements of the candidate (500 words max):
Referee 1
Name:
Position/title:
Affiliation:
Contact telephone:
Contact email:
Area of research/work:
Statement of endorsement (maximum 200 words):
Referee 2
Name:
Position/title:
Affiliation:
Contact telephone:
Contact email:
Area of research/work:
Statement of endorsement (maximum 200 words):
PLEASE PROVIDE a website for further information regarding the candidate or their work, or attach any media coverage, reporting by institutional publications or press releases. Limited to five (5) pages of material.
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
- Form CAN be completed by a candidate OR a nominator.
- At least ONE reference must be either a full professor or the director of a laboratory.
- Referees DO NOT need to be known personally, however they must be familiar with the candidate's research, capabilities and skills.
- Postal entries must provide four (4) copies of the entry form and supporting materials.
- Entries are only open to scientists aged 40 years of age or younger as at 26 September 2007. They must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia who are currently living and working in the country at the time of nomination.
- The research undertaken by a nominee is NOT restricted to Australia: it can have been undertaken anywhere.
- Entries close 5pm AEST Monday 2 July 2007.
- Groups will NOT be considered: the nomination MUST be of an individual whose work - across one or many groups - is of such excellence that it deserves to be recognised individually.
- Submitted material will not be returned.
- Candidates will be considered by the Editorial Advisory Board of COSMOS. The Board will recommend a list of finalists, from which the 10 winners will be selected by the Editors of COSMOS and the Chairman of Editorial Advisory Board.
- A short-list of candidates may be developed by the Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board in consultation with the Editors of COSMOS, for presentation to the COSMOS Editorial Advisory Board.
- The deliberations of the Editorial Advisory Board of COSMOS and of the finalist judging panel will remain confidential. All recommendations and decisions taken are binding and final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- Information provided by entrant(s) in relation to the Cosmos Bright Sparks awards (including photos) may be used by the publishers of COSMOS, Luna Media Pty Ltd, for promotional and publicity purposes.
- Personal information provided in connection the Cosmos Bright Sparks awards will be used only by Luna Media only in connection with the Cosmos Bright Sparks awards.
If you have any further questions, email them to Bright Sparks Enquiries.
No telephone calls please!
"I've won a dozen awards, but this means the most to me … I didn't know whether people in Australia knew or cared what I was doing over here! 
"It was a thrill to be among the inaugural Bright Sparks and receiving recognition outside my field. It also helps get the message out that science is a fantastically creative and interesting career. And it has inspired me to push forward and achieve greater things in the future."
"Getting recognition in Australia has ironically been beneficial to me here in Boston. Even here, at what is considered one of the best medical schools in the world, it's still a big deal for them."