Centenary Prizes

Guidelines for nominators

• Nominations open 18 October.
  
• Nominations close 18 January, 17:00 GMT.
• Only RSC members can nominate for this prize.
• Nominees may NOT nominate themselves.
• We will not consider nominations of deceased individuals.
• Nominees can only be considered for one of our Research & Innovation Prizes in any given year. In a case where a nominee is nominated for more than one prize independently, RSC staff will ask the nominee which prize they would like to be considered for.
• Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate or be nominated:
  
  • RSC Subject Community Presidents
  • RSC Prize Committee members
  • Trustees of the Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Royal Society of Chemistry staff

• This prize is open to nominees working outside of the UK and Ireland only.
• There are no career stage restrictions associated with this prize.
• This prize requires winners to be exceptional communicators; therefore the judging panel will be looking for evidence that nominees have been able to demonstrate outstanding lecturing ability.
• When nominating previous RSC Prize winners, please remember that a person cannot be awarded twice for substantially the same body of work. 
• Nominees should only be nominated once for this prize in any given prize cycle. In cases where we receive more than one nomination for the same nominee, only one nomination will go forward to judging.
• Starting from the 2023 cycle, unsuccessful nominations for this prize will automatically rollover to the next prize cycle, unless the nominee’s circumstances have changed so as to make them ineligible, in relation to the eligibility criteria for the prize as outlined above. We encourage nominators to update their nomination between cycles when the nomination window is open. Nominations will be considered for two consecutive prize cycles.

To make a nomination, please use our online nominations system to submit the following information:

• Your name, contact details, and membership number (please contact the RSC membership team if you do not know your membership details). Your RSC membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. The identity of nominators is not made known to our judging panels. The RSC reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
• Your nominee’s name and contact details.
• An up to date CV for the nominee (no longer than one A4 side, 11pt text), which should include a summary of their education and career.
• Details (title, author/inventor list, publication year, DOI/reference no., abstract) of up to 5 relevant publications/patents. These details should not be included on the nominee's CV, but will be collected separately on the nomination form. For a subset of prizes, including the Centenary Prizes, at the initial stage of judging, committee members will not have access to information on journals in which articles are published. This is to help encourage nominations for a diverse range of nominees, and to enable committee members to focus on the scientific content of papers, as described in the supporting statement, without the influence of publication metrics.
• A short citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for. This must be no longer than 250 characters (including spaces) and no longer than one sentence.
• A supporting statement (up to 750 words) addressing the selection criteria. As committee members will carry out their initial assessments without full details of relevant publications, please ensure this supporting statement clearly sets out how the scientific content of supporting publications addresses the selection criteria. Our guidance for nominators page has more information on writing this supporting statement.
• A statement (up to 100 words) describing how your nominee has contributed more broadly to the scientific community. A list of possible examples is outlined in the ‘selection criteria’ tab.
• References are not required for this prize and will not be accepted. 

The RSC reserves the right to rescind any prize if there are reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no impediment, relating to professional conduct, to their nominee receiving this prize. All prize winners will be asked to sign the RSC’s Code of Conduct Declaration for Recognition.

Selection Criteria and Judging Panel

Our selection committees base their evaluations on the overall quality of relevant contributions and achievements by nominees, in relation to the selection criteria listed below.

The scientific content of any supporting publications, as described in the supporting statement, is much more important than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it is published.

The selection committee will consider the following aspects of nominations for this prize:

• Exceptional communication skills
• Originality of research
• Impact of research
• Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software
• Innovation
• Professional standing
• Collaborations and teamwork
• Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator     

In an instance where multiple nominees are judged equally meritorious in relation to the above criteria, judging panels have the flexibility to use information provided by the nominator on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion.

Examples of relevant contributions could include, but are not limited to:

• Involvement with Royal Society of Chemistry member groups/networks
• Teaching/demonstrating
• Effective mentorship
• Service on boards, committees or panels
• Leadership in the scientific community
• Peer-reviewer
• Promotion of diversity and inclusion
• Advocacy for chemistry
• Public engagement and outreach

RSC Prize Committee

• Sabine Flitsch, University of Manchester (Chair)
• Diane Turner, Anthias Consulting 
• Mark Bradley, University of Edinburgh
• Mike Ward, University of Warwick
• Dudley Shallcross, University of Bristol
• Stephen Mudge, Norwegian Institute for Air Research
• Dwayne Heard, University of Leeds
• Magda Titirici, Imperial College London
• David O'Hagan, University of St Andrews 
• Paul Brewer, National Physical Laboratory

History of the prize

The Centenary Prize was created to commemorate 100 years since the foundation of the Chemical Society. 

The Prize medal depicts the Scottish chemist Thomas Graham, the first president of the Chemical Society. In 1980, the Chemical Society and the Royal Institute of Chemistry, together with the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry, became the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The prize was established in 1947 through the Centenary Fund. In 2021, the purposes of this Trust were amended, and remaining monies were combined with other generous bequests and donations to become part of the RSC Recognition Fund.