Reg. Charity No. 1168330
The Palaeontological Association recognizes excellence in our profession by the award of medals and other prizes. The Association sees its lists of medals and award winners as a record of the very best palaeontologists worldwide, at different career stages, and offering different kinds of contributions to the field. The Association stresses the importance of nominations and encourages all members to make nominations. Members considering making nominations should first read the Palaeontological Association ‘Statement of Diversity’ below.
The Palaeontological Association has an Unconscious Bias document, the recommendations of which will be adhered to at all times. All decision-making for Palaeontological Association awards and prizes will be carried out objectively and professionally. The Association is committed to making award and prize decisions purely on the basis of the merit of the individual(s). No nominee for awards or prizes will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of: gender, marital status, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity or national origins, religion or similar philosophical belief, spent criminal conviction, age or disability. Equally, all nominations will be assessed on equal terms, regardless of the sex, age and/or ethnicity of the nominee. Nominations will therefore be assessed and graded on their merits, in accordance with the criteria and the aims and objectives set for each award or medal. Due consideration will be given to any period away from science due to parental leave, illness and any other such career break. Nominators are reminded that neutral language (e.g. gender neutral) should be used in all nominations.
Council discusses Awards and Medals at the May Council meeting. Voting to select awardees occurs at the meeting or soon after the meeting electronically. The benefit of using Council to select awardees, rather than a dedicated awards committee, is that it draws on the wider experience of the entire Council. Voting is preceded by an introduction from the President and/or Secretary, either verbally or in a written format, that: (i) includes a diversity statement to remind Council of their responsibility in terms of fairness and diversity issues (including impact of non-standard careers etc.); (ii) outlines the remit and selection criteria for each award; (iii) considers the impact of awardees in terms of increasing the diversity of recipients. Each award is considered in turn with every application considered except those that clearly fall outside of the remit. Normally only one candidate will be awarded in each category per year. However, at Council’s discretion and in exceptional circumstances more than one award in any one category may be bestowed if this is deemed appropriate.
In normal circumstances selection of awardees is conducted by a modified form of supplemental voting, where each Council Member votes by listing their three preferred candidates in rank order (1st to 3rd). The candidate(s) with the most votes as preferred candidate will be awarded the award/medal. If there are only two candidates and they are tied the President shall have the casting vote. If there are three or more candidates and a tie, the second ranked candidates will be added to the tally. If the result remains tied, then the third ranked votes are incorporated. If the vote still remains tied the President will cast the deciding vote or (in exceptional circumstances) will ask Council to consider awarding multiple awards/medals.