Louis Barnett Prize

Established in 1962, this prestigious award, valued at $2500, commemorates Sir Louis Barnett CMG, a pioneering surgical researcher, a founder of RACS and the first surgeon from Aotearoa New Zealand to become president of the College.

Entries for 2026 will open on Monday 5 January 2026.

Entries for the 2026 prize will open on Monday 5 January 2026 and close on Monday 6 April, 2026

Before submitting your abstract, please make sure you have read and understood the eligibility criteria, the details on submitting abstracts and the judging information for your prize. Please note, only one abstract will be accepted per submitter.

For any questions regarding the Louis Barnett Prize, please contact Project & Events Officer Aotearoa New Zealand, Danielle Cochran at [email protected]

Applications for the prize are open to Trainees and Fellows within the first five years of their Fellowship as of 2 July 2026, 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.

Please include a declaration of your eligibility for this prize in your abstract submission.

For any questions regarding the Louis Barnett Prize, please contact Project & Events Officer Aotearoa New Zealand Danielle Cochran.

Abstracts should be sent to [email protected] with a brief cover email outlining your involvement in the research. Any submissions that do not meet the following requirements will not be considered for this award.

The abstract should be organised as follows:

• Declaration of eligibility
• 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

• 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' presentations will be no more than eight minutes long, with up to an additional two minutes for questions.
• 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.

Entries will open on Monday 5 January 2026.

Sir Louis was born in Wellington and was the first New Zealander to gain a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to Aotearoa New Zealand to a lectureship at Otago Medical School and in 1909 was appointed professor of surgery at Otago. He was awarded the CMG for his services in WWI and was knighted in 1927 after his retirement from the Chair of Surgery.

In the 1920s Sir Louis was instrumental in the formation of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (initially known as the College of Surgeons in Australasia) and in 1927, at the College’s first meeting which was held in Dunedin, he was elected the first Vice-President. He later became President of this College from 1937 – 1939.

A pioneer in hydatid’s research, Sir Louis continued this work after his retirement from the Otago Medical School. 

He was influential in the establishment of the College’s hydatid register and was also prominent in the British Empire Cancer Campaign.

Sir Louis endowed the Ralph Barnett Chair in Surgery at Otago Medical School, in memory of his son who was killed in WWI.