Publication Medal

This medal is awarded annually for a publication on any subject in soil research. The award is open to Australian soil scientists and is made on the basis of scientific merit, relevance to soil science and effectiveness in communicating the content. The award is normally for work carried out in Australia and the publication on which the award is based should be published not later than the year of the candidate’s 35th birthday.

Written assurance must be given by any co-authors that the nominee for the Publication Medal has made the major contribution to the research and writing of the paper. Only the senior author of a joint-author publication is eligible to receive the Publication Medal.

The award consists of a medal, certificate and sum of money.

Nomination Process and Instructions

Nominations must be via the online form and submitted to the Federal Secretary before the closing date in the year in which the medal is to be awarded.

Applications for the Publication Medal award need to be made by a financial member of Soil Science Australia and can be made either by the candidate, or on behalf of the candidate. The Publication Medal award will be made on the basis of scientific merit, relevance to soil science, and effectiveness in communicating the paper’s contents to the reader.

  • The candidate needs to be a financial member of the Society.
  • The work will normally be for work carried out in Australia.
  • The publication on which the award is based should be published no later than the year of the candidate’s 35th birthday.
  • If the paper is co-authored written assurance must be given that the candidate made the major contribution to the research and writing of the paper.
  • Only the primary author of a joint author publication is eligible to receive the award.
  • Application may be made by either the candidate or on behalf of the candidate by a financial member of the Society.
  • Nominations are confidential to the Awarding Committee.
  • The nomination may include the names of up to two referees on whom the Publication Medal Committee may call.

If insufficient suitable nominations are received the Publication Medal Committee may initiate a search and consider candidates from which to select a suitable medal recipient.

Award Presentation

The Publication Medal is presented by the Federal President or proxy at the Soil Science Australia national conference or another event determined by the Federal Council.

Award Winners

1979 P.S. Sidhu 2004 Ronald Smernik
1980 M.J. Knight 2005 Bennett Macdonald
1981 W.H. Utomo 2007 Ian Oliver
1982 David Chittleborough 2009 Mohsen Forouzongohar
1983 Colin Chartres 2010 Ashlea Doolette
1984 Robert Loch 2011 Samantha Grover
1986 R.R. Anand 2012 Vanessa Wong
1987 J.M. Hainsworth 2013 Raj Setia
1989 Neal Menzies 2014 Shu Kee Lam (Raymond)
1991 Stuart Boucher 2015 Daniela Montalvo Grijalva
1993 V.K. Phogat 2016 Timothy McLaren
1995 H.J. Ni 2017 Yingcan Zhu
1996 Kerry Greenwood 2018 Mario Fajardo
2001 Gary Sheridan 2019 Corinne Celestina
2002 Budiman Minasny 2020 Pei-Pei Xue
2003 Angus McElnea

Soil Science Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.