2016 PHILA Awards

The PHILA Award is an award from the Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA) that honours excellence and commitment to public health. PHILA is an acronym for Public Health Innovation and Lifetime Achievement and also plays on the isiZulu word “phila” meaning life. These awards are given to individuals in recognition of a specific and significant contribution to public health research, advocacy, education or service in South Africa.

PHASA would like to invite nominations for the 2016 PHILA Awards. The nominee and person nominating need not be PHASA members. Members of the PHILA Awards Committee and current PHASA Executive Board Members are not eligible for the awards.The following will be awarded.

• The PHILA Annual Award
• The PHILA Lifetime Achievement Award
• The PHILA Emerging Practitioner Award

The PHILA Annual Award

This award honours excellence and commitment to public health. This award will be given to an individual in recognition of a specific and significant contribution to public health research, advocacy, education or service in South Africa during the past five (5) years.

Specific criteria for this award include

• The work nominated for should have been completed in South Africa in the last 5 years
• The work must have been peer reviewed and/or translated (or in the process of) into policy or practice and/or resulted in significant public discourse or action and/or received other recognition in the field
• The individual should demostrate leadership potential or be a leader to whom colleagues in the field look up to as a role model
• The individual should demonstrate a high standard of professionalism

The PHILA Lifetime Achievement Award

This award will honour an individual for a life time of commitment to public health. This individual should have made an exceptional and significant contribution to public health research, education or service in their lifetime.

Individuals should have fundamentally advanced public health in South Africa and be acknowledged by peers.

Specific criteria for this award include

• At least 20 years’ experience in South Africa in public health
• Exceptional and demonstrable accomplishments, beyond the requirements of their employment, as a public health practitioner
• Outstanding leader in public health and whose quality of work continues to raise public health standards and to whom colleagues in the field look up to as a role model
• High standard of professionalism and a track record of building public health capacity of younger individuals
• Influence of the individual’s work in health policy/ health services in South Africa or beyond

The PHILA Emerging Practitioner Award

This award honours excellence and commitment to public health in an emerging practioner not older than 35 years old. This award will be given to an individual in recognition of a specific and significant contribution to public health research, advocacy, education or service in South Africa during the past five (5) years.

Specific criteria for this award include

• The person should be younger than 35 years
• The work nominated for should have been completed in South Africa in the last 5 years
• The work must have been peer reviewed and/or translated (or in the process of) into policy or practice and/or resulted in significant public discourse or action and/or received other recognition in the field
• The individual should demostrate leadership potential or be a leader to whom colleagues in the field look up to as a role model
• The individual should demostrate high standard of professionalism

Nature of the Award

The award will be presented at the 2016 PHASA conference in East London. All awards will consists of a trophy and a certificate.

In addition, PHASA will arrange the travel and two nights’ accommodation for the winners to the PHASA conference.

Winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award will receive a lifetime membership to PHASA

Nomination process

Nominees should please complete the nomination form (DOWNLOAD IT HERE) and send it to Ms Mandy Salomo at Mandy.Salomo@mrc.ac.za. The following should be included with the nomination form:

• Resume of the nominee
• Two additional letters of support

Being a PHASA member is not a requirement for either the nominee or the person nominating.

Selection process

All nominations will be reviewed by the PHILA Awards Committee in July 2016. The Committee reserves the right not to make any award if the nominees are not suitable and may.

The closing date for applications is 30 June 2016

The winners will be notified by 22 July 2016 and will be announced at the 2016 PHASA Conference which will be held 19-22 September 2016.

For more information, please contact Ms Mandy Salomo at Mandy.Salomo@mrc.ac.za .