Rules & Regulations

1. Definitions

Awards		BMJ South Asia Awards 2024 – 2025 are/will be referred to as the “Awards”
Applicant/Nominee		An individual that sends in an application to participate in the Awards as per these rules
Awards Management		Individuals/panels/employees of BMJ India responsible for the conduct of the “Awards”
Jury		Individuals appointed by Awards Management to evaluate the applications

2. Objective of the Awards

BMJ Group is delighted to announce that the BMJ South Asia Awards is returning in 2024 – 2025.  Launched in 2014, the BMJ Awards South Asia recognises excellence in healthcare by honouring individuals, teams, and groups that have demonstrated exemplary commitment to the practice of medicine. Winners will be presented with a trophy and certificate amongst 150 of South Asia’s most senior healthcare professionals, industry executives, government officials, academics and researchers. We are inviting nominations from teams in 6 categories. The nominees/applicants will submit one application and if shortlisted will be invited to present their entry to a judging panel on Saturday 30 November 2024. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday 29 March 2025 at the Shangri-La, New Delhi – the winners will receive a trophy and a certificate presented on stage by senior healthcare dignitaries.

3. Award categories and definitions

The nominated categories for submission at the 2024 – 2025 South Asia Awards are:

• Digital Innovation: This award honours a project that has used a novel and original digital approach to improve patient care demonstrably.
• Quality Improvement: This award recognises teams that are using original approaches to quality improvement to boost clinical outcomes.
• Sustainability and Climate Action: This award recognises teams taking action to reduce the impact of their practice on the environment.
• Maternal & Child Health Team of the year: This award recognizes healthcare professionals in South Asia who are working to make integrated Maternal & Child Health Services affordable and accessible.
• Excellence in Medical Education: This award recognises a project which demonstrates outstanding innovation in medical education and performance improvement.
• Primary Care: This award recognises primary care teams who have had a substantial effect on the health and well-being of the wider community

The Award categories and the parameters for evaluation may be changed/modified/split/ merged/increased or cancelled by the Awards Management and/or Jury based on the number of entries received in any category, and the quality of the entries. The decision in this regard will be final and non-contestable. The Awards management will not entertain any queries in this regard.

4. Call for entries, nomination & participation

The call for entries for the Awards will be announced on the BMJ South Asia Awards website.

The Awards Management and/or Jury have the right to reject any nomination in any Award category if false/misleading information is found to have been submitted in the nomination process.

Nominees/applicants can apply for or be nominated in only one Award categories, and to fulfilment of rules and regulations mentioned herein.

A nominee/applicant can submit more than one entry in an Award category if the entries are for different initiatives. A new nomination form must be submitted for each initiative.

If separate application forms are received for the same initiative, from different individuals/organisations, such entries will be treated as one entry.

The Awards Management has the right to reorganise/reclassify application forms from one category to another, at its discretion.

5. Eligibility Criteria

The awards are open to clinically-led teams based in South Asia with projects active in 2023, i.e. at least one member of the team should be a doctor holding an MBBS/BDS degree. 

A nominee/applicant can submit more than one entry in an Award category if the entries are for different initiatives. A new nomination form must be submitted for each initiative.

The Awards are open to residents of South Asia only [India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Afghanistan].

The initiative/project should have been implemented in the period mentioned in the Award category qualifying description.

The Awards Management may modify the eligibility criteria in the best interests of the Awards.

The Awards Management holds the right to disqualify any application that does not meet the eligibility criteria without assigning any reason whatsoever.

6. Confirmation

The nomination process will close on Sunday, 08 September 2024. Awards Management may not consider/be responsible/held liable for application forms which are in the incorrect format/without declaration /received late/corrupt etc.

7. Screening of received nomination/application forms

Awards Management will appoint experienced personnel to screen application forms to ensure adherence to the eligibility criteria and the rules and regulations.

8. Completeness of entries/disqualification

Entry forms must be filled in English only

Nomination/application forms that are received incomplete in any manner may be disqualified by the Awards Management.

Applications may be disqualified if they do not follow any of the rules & regulations stated herein.

Disqualification of entries received is at the sole discretion of Awards Management, on a case-by-case basis.

9. Application Information

If at any time, any information provided by any applicant/nominee is found to be false/misleading/incorrect in any manner, then the applicant/nominee will not be permitted to continue participation in the Awards.

Determination of whether the information is incorrect or not rests with Awards Management & BMJ Group.

The Awards Management has the right to ask for proof of information provided/audit the information provided in the nomination/application form, and will specify how long the entrant has to respond. If such a request is made and the applicant/nominee does not comply, the applicant/nominee could be disqualified from participation in the Awards.

10. Short-listing in each award category

At the end of the submission process, nomination/application forms received will be collated under each award category for evaluation by personnel appointed by Awards Management.

Determination of the Award category to which an application belongs is at the discretion of Awards Management. Awards Management reserves the right to make the final judgement in case of any ambiguity in Rules and Regulations/disputes over suitability.

The top three scoring entries in each category will be notified as soon as possible when they will be invited to present their work to our judges.

11. Verification of the information provided in the Application/Nomination Form

The Awards Management will contact the applicant/nominee, if required, for any clarifications needed regarding the information provided in the application/nomination form and to conduct a verification of the information submitted.

The Awards Management will make the best efforts possible to contact the applicants/nominee, but shall not be responsible if the person does not participate in or does not agree to the conduct of the verification, or are not contactable.

If it is not possible to conduct a verification of the applicant/nominee for any reason beyond its control, Awards Management may, at its discretion, disqualify the applicant/nominee or continue in such other manner as deemed fit.

12. Determination of Winners

The Final Jury will score/rank the Nominees based on the nomination/application form submitted by them and a presentation made by the nominee.

There could be one or more winners in each award category, at the discretion of the jury.

The determination of who should receive an award for any award category rests with the jury.

The Jury’s decision is final and binding on all nominees.

The Jury may also decide, to adhere to the standards of the awards, that there could be no winner in a particular category.

13. General

Applicants/nominees understand and agree that merely by applying for these Awards does not entitle the applicant/nominee to any other form of consideration.

The decision by Awards Management on all matters is final and binding on all applicants/nominees and no correspondence will be entertained on the same.

Nominees and winners permit free of cost the use of their name and factual information about their application and entry(s) in the public media (for the build-up to the Awards, during the Awards ceremony, etc) and do not have any right to any revenues earned through intellectual property rights generated by the Awards if any.

Applicants/nominees & winners permit BMJ to use the information provided by them in the application form(s) for promotional features about the Awards.

Additions, deletions and/or modifications to these Rules and Regulations are at the discretion of the Awards Management and the Awards Management may make such additions/deletions and/or modifications, at any time.

Costs of participation (for those located outside of New Delhi) in the Awards will be borne by BMJ India on a case by case basis. This could cover up to 2 nights accommodation and may include the cheapest fare economy class travel based on the availability of flights for the finalists (one member only), and unless specifically conveyed in writing to the applicant, should not be construed otherwise.

14. Rules

The Awards Management reserves the right to withdraw or amend the terms of the Awards at any time, and does not take the responsibility for any loss or damage that any person/organization/ Applicant/Nominee may suffer as a result of the Awards being withdrawn or its terms amended.

The filing of the nomination form by the nominees/applicants would signify their acceptance of these Rules and Regulations.