The Royal Society of New South Wales has long recognised distinguished achievements in various fields of knowledge through its Awards. Some are amongst the oldest in Australia while others are more recent. From its Act of Incorporation in 1881, the Society’s mission has been to encourage “studies and investigations in Science, Art, Literature and Philosophy”. In 2023, the Society determined to broaden and streamline its Awards portfolio to recognize recent and evolving fields and disciplines, and emerging as well as established stars.

From 2023, the Society Awards are made in two main classes reflecting the Society’s history: Career Excellence Medals and Disciplinary Awards and Medals; with additional Awards, Scholarships and Citations, including Internal Awards for distinguished service to the Society. External nominations are most welcome for all but the Internal and Discretionary Awards which are determined by the Council of the Society. Conditions and nomination forms are listed at each Award’s individual webpage and some guidance notes are provided below.

Nominations for all available Awards open on 1 July each year and close on 30 September. Awardees are announced by the end of that calendar year with formal presentations of their Awards in the following year. All nominations require a nominator, a seconder, and the acceptance of the nominee.

Information about past Awards and their winners, prior to 2023, is available from the preceding link.

Information about the new Awards program will be available from the Awards menu when it is updated in the second quarter of 2023.