Louis Barnett Prize
Established in 1962, this prestiguous award, valued at $2500, commemorates Sir Louis Barnett, a pioneering surgical researcher, a founder of RACS and the first surgeon from Aotearoa New Zealand to become president of the College.
The 2027 finalist presentations will be held at 2:30pm on Thursday 11 February in the Barnett Lecture Theatre, Dunedin Hospital with the winner being announced at the Centenary Dinner.
Call for Abstracts
Entries are now open until 11:59pm Monday 16 November 2026.
To submit your abstract, you must complete this form. Please note, only one abstract will be accepted per submitter
Eligibility Criteria
Applications for the prize are open to Trainees and Fellows within the first five years of their Fellowship as of 1 February 2027, AND:
- a citizen of Aotearoa New Zealand, OR
- have permanent resident status for Aotearoa New Zealand.
The research may have been done either within or outside Aotearoa New Zealand; within or outside a department of surgery; and before or after commencement of surgical training
Abstract Requirements
The abstract should be organised as follows:
- Title: brief but long enough to clearly identify the subject of the paper
- Authors/Presenter: initial and then surname only. Presenter's name underlined
- Department and Institution of all authors
- Body with 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.
Judging Information
- 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 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.
Finalist Presentations
We will notify you of the outcome of the first round of judging in early December.
All selected finalists will be required to present in person at the Barnett Lecture Theatre on Thursday 11 February.
- Finalists' presentations will be nor more than eight minutes long, with an additional two minutes for questions
The winner of the prize will then be announced at the centenary dinner at Larnach Castle on Friday 12 February. If you have any issues getting your ticket reimbursed, please contact email the AoNZ office at college.nz@surgeons.org.
For more information, please see the Louis Barnett page on our website, or contact the AoNZ office: college.nz@surgeons.org | 04 385 8247.