The Littlejohn Gairdner prize
Foundation
The Littlejohn Gairdner Prize was instituted by Dorothy Hedderwick to commemorate the centenary of the appointment of her father, Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn, as Medical Officer for Edinburgh and his friend, Sir William Tennant Gairdner, as Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow.
Funding/Purpose
The Littlejohn Gairdner Prize Fund and /or its proceeds shall be used to offer a cash prize and a medal for annual competition by candidates enrolled with the Faculty in higher specialist training programmes in Scotland. Administration of the Littlejohn Gairdner Prize Fund shall be the responsibility of the Scottish Affairs Committee of the Faculty of Public Health.
Eligibility
The prize should be awarded to a candidate who is undertaking a general public health training and who shows outstanding potential in making a contribution to public health in Scotland.
Eligibility for the competition will be restricted to those enrolled with the Faculty in higher specialist training programmes in Scotland; this includes Specialist Registrars and Specialist Trainees.
Candidates must have passed Part A of the new Faculty examination scheme. The piece of work from which submission arises should be conducted during training. The time period for submission for the award should be during training or within six months after completing training.
Candidates would be allowed one attempt only at submission for the Littlejohn Gairdner Prize.
Value
£100 agreed in 2005.
Application
Applications are to comprise of a written submission, either as a single piece of work or as number of linked pieces together forming a theme. The maximum length is 5,000 words and could consist of, for example, a Board-level paper, a needs assessment, a published paper, or a report on a specific topic. The submission requires a high level of personal involvement by the candidate. A signed statement from the candidate's trainer, who should be a member of the Faculty, should evidence this.
Statement from candidate's trainer [word]
Frequency of award
Annually, funds permitting.
Closing date
The closing date for submissions is 1 September each year.
Adjudication
The prize and medal will be awarded on the recommendation of the Adjudication Committee, subject to confirmation by the Scottish Affairs Committee.
The Adjudication Committee will be appointed by the Scottish Affairs Committee and will consist of a minimum of three members representing academic, service and non-medical public health.
Criteria for award
The award will be based on work that makes a significant contribution to service or academic public health in Scotland and on originality, rigour, potential health gain and the extent to which the submission develops the concepts, policy, strategy or action of public health.
The award may be withheld at the discretion of the Adjudication Committee in the absence of applications of sufficient merit.
Presentation
Awards of the medal and prize money shall be made on the occasion of the Annual Public Health Medicine Conference in Scotland. Awards shall not be made in absentia, save at the discretion of the Scottish Affairs Committee of the Faculty of Public Health.
Recipients shall be required, as a condition of the award, to deliver an address to be known as the Littlejohn Gairdner Memorial Lecture based on an aspect of the prize-winning work to the Annual Scottish Public Health Medicine Conference.
Submissions marked ‘Littlejohn Gairdner Prize Submission' should be made both in paper and electronic format to the
Education & Training Department
Faculty of Public Health
4 St Andrew's Place
London
NW1 4LB
Please contact the Education and Training Department on 020 7224 0642 or by email on educ@fph.org.uk.