Louis Barnett Prize

We are calling for abstracts for the Louis Barnett Prize 2024. Entries are open until 27 June 2024.

Before sending in your abstract, please make sure you have read and understood the eligibility criteria, the details on submitting abstracts, and the judging information for the prize. Once ready, send your abstract through to: [email protected].

Good luck!

• Title: brief but long enough to identify clearly the subject of the paper.
• Author(s) / Presenter(s): first initial and then surname only. Presenter's/ presenters’ name/s underlined.
• Department and institution of all authors /presenters.
• A declaration that you are eligible for the award ie. confirming you are a Trainee or are within the first five years of your Fellowship as of 19 September 2024 and are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
• The body of your abstract must include these headings in bold:
  • Introduction: including the study hypothesis
  • Purpose: a sentence stating the purpose of the study
  • Methods: a description of the methods
  • Summary of results
  • Statement of conclusions
  • References: only if necessary, and a maximum of two.
• Don’t forget to include a brief covering email outlining your involvement in the research.

Formatting your abstract:

• Word documents only.
• Stick to 350 words or less, excluding title, presenter(s) and department(s).
• Single-spaced text with justified margins. Do not indent paragraphs.
• Abbreviations may be used but must be spelt out in full at the first mention followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
  

• Abstracts will be subject to a blind evaluation by a panel of adjudicators who will select the best papers, up to a maximum of eight.
• Adjudication of abstracts will consider: complexity of the project, quality of the science, relevance of the project, clarity of the abstract; and the amount of work contributed by the submitter. 
• Finalists will be invited to present at a standalone online event on Thursday 19 September from 7pm. 
• Finalists’ presentations should be no more than eight minutes long, with up to an additional two minutes for questions.
• Finalists will be judged by a panel, including at least one Professor of Surgery who will consider: the introduction, method, presentation clarity, audio-visual aids and presenters’ ability to defend the paper in discussion.
• No award will be made if, in the opinion of the panel, no paper is of sufficient merit.

Sir Louis was born in Wellington and was the first New Zealander to gain a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to Aotearoa New Zealand to a lectureship at Otago Medical School and in 1909 was appointed professor of surgery at Otago. He was awarded the CMG for his services in WW1 and was knighted in 1927 after his retirement from the Chair of Surgery.

In the 1920s Sir Louis was instrumental in the formation of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (initially known as the College of Surgeons in Australasia) and in 1927, at the College’s first meeting which was held in Dunedin, he was elected the first Vice-President. He later became President of this College from 1937 – 1939.

A pioneer in hydatid’s research, Sir Louis continued this work after his retirement from the Otago Medical School. 

He was influential in the establishment of the College’s hydatid register and was also prominent in the British Empire Cancer Campaign.

Sir Louis endowed the Ralph Barnett Chair in Surgery at Otago Medical School, in memory of his son who was killed in WWI.