Leadership Excellence Award

Recognises and celebrates an inspirational leader, or group of leaders who role model our leadership behaviours and contribute to our University’s success.

Leadership Excellence Award - Criteria

Award criteria:

Nominees must demonstrate excellence in leadership against one or more of the behaviours identified in the University of Newcastle Leadership Framework (up to 500 words):

Shaping the future
Engaging beyond the University
Working collaboratively
Striving for excellence
Driving performance
Showing courage and respect

Excellence in leadership could be in relation to one or more of the following:

Their colleagues, team, School, Unit, College or Division
A project, program, subject, course, etc.
A committee, working party, community of practice, etc.

Eligibility and How to Nominate

Eligibility

All University employees are eligible to be nominated for an Excellence Award, including professional staff (casual, fixed-term and ongoing) and academic staff (continuing, fixed-term, conjoint and sessional). Staff employed by an agency do not fall within the eligibility requirements.

All staff members are eligible to submit an award nomination for another member or staff, or a group of staff, but as of 2023, self-nomination is no longer permitted.

Depending on the quality of the nominations, one award winner may be selected for each award sub-category. Subject to the quality of the nominations for a category, an award may not be made. Depending on the award category, you may choose to nominate an individual, or a team.

Individual nominations (where applicable)
You are encouraged to tell the individual that you are nominating them before submitting your nomination. However, all nominees will be advised of their nomination via email once the submission is received.

Team nominations (where applicable)
Team nominations must not exceed 10 members unless exceptional circumstances apply. You must advise team leaders of the nomination before you submit it to ensure that team composition and contributions are accurately reflected. In the nomination form you will be required to identify seminal contributors (up to a maximum of 4 members) and supporting contributors (up to a maximum of 6 members) within the team composition. Prize money for team awards will be distributed equally amongst all team members.

Re-nominations
A nominee or recipient of an Excellence Award cannot be the recipient of an award in two consecutive years for the same or substantially similar achievement.

Awards ceremony and prizes
All finalists are invited to attend the annual awards ceremony, where the award winners are announced. Award winners receive a certificate of recognition, a trophy and monetary award prize.

Monetary award prizes are $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for teams (shared equally amongst all team members) which must be collected through salary payment. The exception is the Values Award, which is a $2,500 award prize awarded to an individual or team (shared equally) and must be used for professional development within 12 months of receipt of the award, unless otherwise approved. Relevant taxation and superannuation arrangements apply to one-off salary payments.

Any award recipient who is no longer employed by the University at the time of the announcement of the awards will not be entitled to an award prize.

How to Nominate

After clicking on the ‘nominate now’ link, you will be taken to an online form, where you will be asked to input:

Your full name and email
The nominee/s name, email, College/Division. For team nominations, details will need to be provided for all team members.
A 75 word succinct overview of the nomination, including

a description of the contribution, initiative, program, project or activity and how this outstanding and exceptional achievement or success exceeds normal expectations of performance.

Your responses to the award selection criteria

In 2023, the University is utilising awards software Award Force to capture our award nominations. This will enable staff to use their single sign on credentials to access the nomination form and provide enhanced functionality, including the ability to save partially completed nominations.

Excellence Awards FAQs

The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.