CAUL Award Guidelines 2026

Award Categories

In 2026, awards are in the following categories:

1. Indigenous Leader Award – Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples
2. Indigenous Leader Award – Māori peoples
3. Emerging Leader Award
4. Mid-Career Award
5. Outstanding Library Team Award
6. Distinguished Service Award

The criteria for the categories are as follows:

Indigenous Leader Award

The Indigenous Leader Award recognises the contributions of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander and Māori colleagues to academic libraries and CAUL’s work.

There are two awards: one for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community members in Australia and one for Māori community members in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Criteria

Nominations must demonstrate evidence in one or more of the following:

  • Leadership impact
  • Advocacy in service provision
  • Innovation
  • People leadership

Nominees in this category may also be nominated for the Emerging Leader Award or the Distinguished Service Award. The nominator should indicate this on the nomination form and address the additional criteria for the other category in the nomination.

Individual recipients are awarded AUD$1,500 each to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference. Award monies are paid into institutional bank accounts.

Note on the limitations of language 

The terms First Nations and Indigenous are used in this site to be inclusive of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori peoples in the context of the CAUL strategy. The use of either of these terms may be problematic, however, and are not intended to cause offence. We acknowledge that individual and community groups may have their own preferences about terminology. 

Emerging Leader Award

The Emerging Leader Award recognises a leader in the first ten years of their library career who models exemplary leadership behaviours and demonstrates significant achievements that contribute to realising the institution’s goals or the advancement of the library profession more generally. 

Criteria

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of one or more of the following:

  • Innovation, initiative or demonstration of leadership of people or projects
  • Service and contribution to the profession
  • Research that advances university library practice

The ten years of work need not be consecutive.

The recipient is awarded AUD$1,500 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference. Award monies are paid into institutional bank accounts.

Mid-Career Award

This award is for Mid-Career librarians who have demonstrated a commitment to ongoing professional development, who perform their role with continuous excellence. It may include those who have reached the highest level of a hierarchy for their roles and are at the mid-point of their careers. They tend to be professional role models for others.

Criteria

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of one or more of the following:

  • Examples of continuous excellence in their role
  • Contribution to library services and the library profession
  • Role model for others

The recipient is awarded AUD$1,500 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference. Award monies are paid into institutional bank accounts.

Outstanding Library Team Award

The Outstanding Library Team Award recognises a library team or specific project group that has demonstrated excellent leadership in delivering significant service improvement or cultural change aligned with organisational priorities.

Criteria

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of the following:

  • Either a significant service improvement or positive organisational or cultural change
  • Collegial work – including supporting colleagues in the achievement of goals or outcomes
  • Sustainability and scalability of the initiative

The recipient team is awarded AUD$3,000 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference. Award monies are paid into institutional bank accounts.

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding local, regional or national contribution to university libraries or the profession that has benefitted the CAUL community.

Criteria

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of a significant or strategic contribution in more than one of the following areas:

  • CAUL’s operations
  • Advancing CAUL’s strategic programs
  • Raising CAUL’s profile
  • Raising the profile of professional issues of importance to CAUL Members
  • Professional leadership at a national or international level through advocacy, representation or other professional contributions
  • Innovation and achievement at the local, regional or national level

The nomination will also be assessed for evidence that the nominee is recognised as an influential senior leader and mentor.

The recipient is awarded a plaque or pin.

Administration of the awards

Awards timeline

The awards will open for nominations on Wednesday 18 February 2026 and close on Wednesday 25 March 2026.

Nominations

Nominations may be made by the nominee themselves or by a third party.

A structured nomination form is provided for each award category:

All nominations must include:

  1. Completed nomination form for the relevant award category
  2. At least one testimonial from a supervisor, peer or colleague that supports the nomination (maximum of three testimonials) provided as a PDF file
  3. An endorsement from the relevant university librarian or equivalent (not required for nominations for awards to be made to university librarians) provided as a PDF file

The quality of the nomination has a significant impact on outcomes. Tips for writing a high-quality awards nomination [pdf] are made available to help you write your nomination and secure high-quality testimonials and endorsements.

Nominations are made via the online submission form:

Submit Nomination

Adjudication Panel

The adjudication panel for the Outstanding Library Team, Emerging Leader, Mid-Career and Distinguished Service Awards is comprised of the following:

  • Kylie Percival, University Librarian, Curtin University and Board Chair, CAUL
  • Mike Wall, University Librarian, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka | University of Otago and Deputy Board Chair, CAUL
  • Jane Angel, CEO, CAUL
  • Scott Nicholls, University Librarian, University of Western Australia
  • Laura Marshall, Executive Director, Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

The adjudication panel for the Indigenous Leader Award – Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples and Māori peoples is comprised of the following:

  • Kylie Percival, University Librarian, Curtin University and Board Chair, CAUL
  • Mike Wall, University Librarian, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka | University of Otago and Deputy Board Chair, CAUL
  • Jane Angel, CEO, CAUL
  • Yanti Ropeyarn, Research and Ethics Training Coordinator, Macquarie University
  • Abigail McClutchie, Kaiārahi, Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland

Scroll to Top