CHRIS SILAGY PRIZE

Before his death in 2001, Chris Silagy initiated a fund to recognise contributions to The Cochrane Collaboration in ways that are often insufficiently recognised. For example, by providing administration, management, Colloquium organisation, communication and motivation – in short, the ‘glue’ th at helps to keep the organisation together. This Prize is awarded at every Cochrane Colloquium to an individual (or organisation) who has made an extraordinary contribution to the work of the Collaboration.

The Prize consists of 1000 Australian dollars and a certificate; also, expenses for attending the Colloquium are met by The Cochrane Collaboration. The recipient of this Prize is selected based on nominations proposed by a peer and seconded by two others, accompanied by a 400-word supporting document. The selection criteria for the Prize are that the nominee should have made:

• an extraordinary contribution to The Cochrane Collaboration;

• a contribution that exceeds the expectations of their employment;

• a contribution to the Collaboration that would not be recognised outside the scope of this Prize (publication of a piece of research work or a systematic review falls outside the scope of this Prize as such work qualifies fo r other awards and methods of recognition);

• the nominee is identified by their peers as consistently contributing to a spirit of collaboration.

Previous Chris Silagy Prize recipients

2002 Jini Hetherington, Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat
2003 Gill Gyte, Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group
2004 Sonja Henderson, Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group
2005 Janet Wale, Cochrane Consumer Network
2006 Monica Kjeldstrøm, Nordic Cochrane Centre




KENNETH WARREN PRIZE

Ken Warren was a larger-than-life man who was a source of encouragement and support for many young people, particularly those living in developing countries. He was very influential in drawing attention to the ‘great neglected diseases’ that plague people in the poorer parts of the world. He was one of the first people to draw attention to the need for valid summaries of key research studies and to the way that electronic media could be used to disseminate the results of health research relevant to people in developing countries. Ken was an enthusiastic supporter of the pilot work in pregnancy and childbirth that led to the creation of The Cochrane Collaboration, and, with Fred Mosteller, he co-organised the meeting at the New York Academy of Sciences at which the vision for The Cochrane Collaboration was first made public.

The Kenneth Warren Prize has been established with individual and institutional donations to celebrate and recognise Ken’s interests. It was awarded for the first time at the Eighth Cochrane Colloquium in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2000.

Previous Kenneth Warren Prize recipients

2000 Marissa Alejandria (Philippines) and Anelise Lima (Brazil)
2001 Manit Srisurapanont (Thailand)
2002 Prathap Tharyan (India)
2003 Mauricio Silva de Lima (Braz il)
2004 George Swingler (South Africa)
2005 Marilla Lucero (Philippines)
2006 Jonathan Ipser (South Africa)

Arrangements for the Kenneth Warren Prize for 2007

Every new or substantively updated Cochrane review judged to be both of high methodological quality and relevant to health problems in developing countries, and published in Issues 3 or 4 2006 and Issues 1 or 2 2007 of The Cochrane Library, for which the contact author is a national currently living in a developing country, is eligible for the 2007 prize. The judgement is made by a panel comprised entirely of nationals of developing countries. The contact author of the successful review receives a certificate and a cheque for 1000 US dollars, and financial support for registration, travel and accommodation expenses associated with participation in the XV Cochrane Colloquium.

The selection panel for the Kenneth Warren Prize for 2007 consists of Prathap Tharyan (Chair), Jonathan Ipse r, Marilla Lucero and George Swingler.

Donations to the Kenneth Warren Prize Fund
Anyone wishing to consider making a donation should contact secretariat@cochrane.org



BILL SILVERMAN PRIZE (TO BE ANNOUNCED POST-COLLOQUIUM)

William (Bill) Silverman (1924-2004) was one of the founders of American neonatal medicine. He was honoured repeatedly as one of the pioneers in his specialty; however, he often evoked somewhaschizophrenic responses amongst his colleagues because he was in the habit of raising troubling questions about the scientific basis and ethics of his and their practices. Like many of the people who have helped to establish The Cochrane Collaboration, Bill Silverman could be regarded as a ’troublemaker’. As he reiterated frequently, however, criticism is a form of troublemaking that can help to drive progress. Furthermore, criticism should not be limited to examining the work of others, b ut should also include self-crit icism.

The Bill Silverman Prize acknowledges explicitly the value of criticism of The Cochrane Collaboration, with a view to helping to improve its work, and thus achieve its aim of helping people make well-informed decisions about health care by providing the best possible evidence on the effects of healthcare interventions. The establishment of the Prize was approved by the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group in 2007.

The Prize will be offered annually and the authors of a piece of research published or presented in the preceding twelve months (July 1 to June 30) will be eligible. However, the inaugural prize in 2007 is different, in that all publications and presentations from before June 30 2007 are eligible. The criteria for the Prize are that the publication or presentation evaluated any aspect of the preparation, maintenance or dissemination of Cochrane reviews or the work of The Cochrane Collaboration more generally, and:
• was of high quality,
• was accompanied by constructive suggestions on how the relevant aspects of the work of The Cochrane Collaboration could be improved,
• has had, or is likely to have, a positive impact on the scientific quality, relevance and use of Cochrane reviews.

The Prize recipients will be announced at the Cochrane Colloquium each year. The prize will comprise a cash award of 1000 US dollars and a certificate. (Additional funds will not be available from the Prize fund for the recipients to attend the Cochrane Colloquium.) The cash award will go to the corresponding author of the selected publication or presentation, and it will be this person’s responsibility to distribute the award in a fair way to her/his colleagues. A list of Prize recipients and details of the relevant publication or presentation will be published on The Cochrane Collaboration website. The Prize committee will provide details of all nominations that relate to evaluations of any aspect of the preparation, maintena nce or dissemination of Cochrane reviews or the work of The Cochrane Collaboration more generally, to The Cochrane Collaboration’s Quality Advisory Group, so that suggestions for improvements can be considered. The committee will also provide details to the Cochrane Methodology Review Group, so that relevant records can be incorporated into the Cochrane Methodology Register.

Nominations
In the inaugural year, 2007, the Prize committee will call for nominations for the Prize in early September. The deadline for nominations will be October 1. (In future years, the Prize committee will advertise for nominations in May, and issue a reminder in early July. The deadline for nominations will be July 31.) Nominations can be made by anyone, including the authors of the publication or presentation being nominated. Nominations must be sent to the administrator for the Prize committee by email, with ‘Bill Silverman Prize’ in the subject heading, the citation for the publication or presentation an d a brief explanation of how it meets the criteria for the Prize. The administrator for the Committee in 2007 is Mike Clarke (mclarke@cochrane.co.uk).

Bill Silverman Prize committee
The Prize committee will comprise 5 or 7 members, at least three of whom do not have an active role within any Cochrane entity (other than, possibly, as an author or referee of one or more Cochrane reviews). One of these people will be a co-chair of the committee. The other co-chair will be someone with an active role within a Cochrane entity. In 2007, the co-chairs are Paul Garner and Rod Jackson. Each year, one of the co-chairs will stand down from the committee, to be replaced as co-chair by an existing member. The resulting vacancy on the committee will be filled by the recipient of the most recent Prize (or a person chosen by the recipients).

Funding for the Prize
Bill Silverman’s family have agreed to the establishment of this Prize, and Iain and Jan Chalmers have contributed 500 0 GBP of start-up funding. This money will be administered by the Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat. The Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group will determine the future of the Prize when this initial contribution has been exhausted and, if relevant, will seek to identify future funding.



See www.cochrane.org/docs/prizes.htm for further information on these Awards and Prizes.