The next BJS Award will be awarded in 2027. The nomination window will open in April 2026 and close in June 2026.

The Award will be given to one person and cannot be shared. The BJS Foundation and the BJS Award Committee will endeavour to give this Award every two years but retain the right not to in any given period.

A celebration of excellence in surgical science, the BJS Award recognises a discovery, innovation or scientific study that has changed clinical practice.

This international accolade will give an exceptional individual the recognition they richly deserve for the profound impact they have had on patient care.

• Nominations can be made by any individual as an expert within the surgical community
• Nominations can be made by an organisation, including societies, associations, colleges and bodies
• Self-nominations are not permitted
• Nominations cannot be made by a member of the BJS Award Committee
• The nominee must be:
  • A living person (no posthumous nominations)
  • Hold a certificate or specialist diploma in Surgery
  • Have led on a specific scientific field of surgery (humanitarian and life-time achievements will not be considered)
  • Have the work supported by publications or patents
• The nominee must not have a conflict of interest with the BJS Foundation:
  • A member of the BJS Award committee
  • A member of the BJS Foundation council
  • A member of the BJS or BJS Open editorial teams
• The nomination must be confidential, it must not be communicated with the nominee, any breach of confidentiality will result in being removed from the process
• The nomination period will open on 2 April 2026 and close on 26 June 2026
• Nominations must be made on the online nomination form, and this will be accessed via this webpage on 2 April 2026
• Nominations will not be accepted in any other format
• To make a nomination you will be required to submit a proposal on the nominee and up to a maximum of five reference publications (see below for more information).
• As the nominator, you must commit to be available and open, if necessary, for additional questions by the Award Committee (up until 31 March 2027)
• The nominator also agrees to share personal details under GDPR regulations for the purposes of this Award process
• The BJS Award Committee decision is final, including, if deemed appropriate, a decision not to make the Award in any given cycle
• There will be no feed-back to the nominator on the decision made by BJS Award Committee

The Award winner will be expected to:

• Conduct an interview with the BJS Academy
• Work with the BJS Foundation on an appropriate laudatio
• Submit a professional headshot to the BJS Foundation
• Attend the Award dinner with a guest on Friday 11 June 2027, location to be determined
• Deliver a webinar with the BJS Academy
• Consent to include all content collected during this process to be used for promotional or educational purposes on the BJS Academy website and social media channels

NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED - Nominations will open on 2 April 2026

To propose a nomination for the BJS Award:

1. Submit via the online form available on this webpage (the form will only be available once nominations open on 2 April)
2. Click on the link and create an account, you will be sent an email to verify your email address. Once you have verified your email address you will be redirected to the online submission form
3. Should you need to complete your form at a later date you can exit the form, which will automatically save the information already inputted. When ready to complete your nomination log into your account using your account credentials
4. Once you are ready, click submit to finalise your nomination
5. Please note once you have submitted your form you will be unable to edit further

Should you wish to prepare the information offline and in advance of the nomination window. To help you prepare, please find download the BJS Award guidelines to nominator. Once you have collated the information, you can copy and paste the information to the online form once the nomination window opens.