CAUL Awards

The annual CAUL Awards recognise, celebrate, and promote the outstanding achievements and innovation of staff working in CAUL Member institutions in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, from innovative teams to emerging leaders and mentors, focusing on recognising leadership.

The awards are open to library staff at CAUL Member institutions in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

2024 Awards

View the recipients and nominees for the 2024 Awards.

Past winners

Past nominees and winners are listed on the honour roll.

Award categories

Awards are made in four categories:

Indigenous Leader Award

The Indigenous Leader Award recognises Indigenous Australians and New Zealanders' contributions to academic libraries and CAUL's work.

This award is open to Australian or Aotearoa New Zealand Indigenous community members. 

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of leadership impact or advocacy in service provision, innovation or people leadership.

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

The recipient is awarded $1,500 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference.

Emerging Leader Award

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

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 recipient is awarded $1,500 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference.

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.

Nominations must demonstrate evidence of

  • 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 $3,000 to use for professional development purposes, such as a study program or attending a conference.

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.

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 and is listed on the virtual honour roll. 

Administration of the awards

Awards timeline

Nominations open in the third quarter, and recipients are announced each year at the second CAUL Council meeting.

In 2024, the awards open on Tuesday 27 August and close on Monday 30 September. 

Nominations

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

A structured nomination form is provided for each award category:

All nominations must include:

  • the completed nomination form for the relevant award category
  • at least one testimonial from a supervisor, peer or colleague that supports the nomination (maximum of three testimonials) provided as a PDF file
  • 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. Review these tips (87kb pdf) for writing a high-quality awards nomination to help you write your nomination and secure high-quality testimonials and endorsements.

Nominations are made via the online submission form.

Judging

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

  • One Board Member (generally the Service Lead, Professional Learning Service)
  • A National Office representative (generally the Executive Director)
  • Two to three Council Members (UL or equivalent), including one Aotearoa New Zealand Member
  • A non-CAUL representative (e.g. ALIA, CAUDIT, UA).

The adjudication panel for the Indigenous Leader Award is comprised of the following:

  • One Board Member (generally the Service Lead, Professional Learning Service)
  • A National Office representative (generally the Executive Director)
  • Two Council Members (UL or equivalent), including one Aotearoa New Zealand Member
  • Two Indigenous library staff members, including one Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander staff member and one Māori staff member*.

* Indigenous panel members may be drawn from the broader library and information profession.

Author Grace Daw
Last modified 6 December 2024