PHRP Excellence Awards
The Sax Institute established the annual Public Health Research & Practice Excellence Awards in 2018 to celebrate the high calibre of articles published in the journal. We promote excellence in public health research, practice and policy and recognise inspirational work taking place in Australia and internationally.
Papers are judged by a panel of Editorial Board members based on their potential impact on public health policy and practice, usefulness to policymakers, researchers and public health practitioners, the rigour of methodology (for research papers) and quality of analysis and presentation. There are two awards: ‘Best Paper’ and ‘Best In Practice Paper’, which specifically recognises work authored by frontline practitioners. Papers considered for the awards have appeared in an issue published in the previous 12 months (September–August).
We are delighted to announce the winning and highly commended articles for the 2023 Awards, as detailed below.
Congratulations to all the authors. We look forward to continuing to support and recognise impactful work in public health research, policy and practice.
Winners 2023
Best Paper
The true cost of hidden waiting times for cataract surgery in Australia
Jessie Huang-Lung, Blake Angell, Anna Palagyi, Hugh R Taylor, Andrew White, Peter McCluskey, Lisa Keay
Click here to view the article, and click here to read more about the research.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
Health service approaches to providing care for people who seek treatment for obesity: identifying challenges and ways forward
Michelle Gooey, Catherine A Bacus, Divya Ramachandran, Milan K Piya, Louise A Baur
Click here to view the article, and click here to read more about the work.
Highly Commended 2023
Highly Commended – Best paper
Weight stigma in Australia: a public health call to action
Blake J Lawrence, Xochitl de la Piedad Garcia, James Kite, Briony Hill, Kelly Cooper, Stuart W Flint, John B Dixon
Click here to view the article.
A better understanding of the science and reality of obesity is urgently needed
Tiffany Petre, Adrian Bauman, Priya Sumithran, Gary Sacks, Tim Lobstein, Carel Le Roux, Clare Mullen, Brian Oldfield
Click here to view the article.
Highly Commended – ‘In Practice’ paper
Development of the Consumer Involvement & Engagement Toolkit: a digital resource to build capacity for undertaking patient-centred clinical trials in Australia
Tanya Symons, Janelle Bowden, Anne McKenzie, Julia M Fallon-Ferguson, Leanne Y Weekes, James Ansell, Rinki Murphy, Shilpa Jesudason, Manoj Saxena, Alistair Nichol, Nicola Straiton
Click here to view the article.
Winners 2022
Best Paper
Forty years of Slip! Slop! Slap! A call to action on skin cancer prevention for Australia
Heather Walker, Clover Maitland, Tamara Tabbakh, Paige Preston, Melanie Wakefield, Craig Sinclair
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the paper.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
Bondi and beyond. Lessons from three waves of COVID-19 from 2020
Adam Capon, Vicky Sheppeard, Nicolas Gonzalez, Jenny Draper, Alice Zhu, Maria Browne, Eleanor Sullivan, Milica Mihajlovic, Rebecca Rockett, Mark J Ferson
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the work.
Highly commended 2022
Highly Commended – Research and Perspective papers
Learning to live with COVID-19 in Australia: time for a new approach
Catherine M Bennett
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Alcohol brands’ use of age-restriction controls on Facebook and Instagram in Australia
Hannah Pierce, Abbie-Clare Vidler, Julia Stafford, Danica Keric
Click here to view article.
‘ Sometimes they’re gammin, playing tricks, but sometimes it’s ears.’ The perspectives of urban parents and carers of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children on their journey to diagnosis of persistent ear health and hearing problems
Samantha F Harkus, Kylie AJ Caso, Sharron T Hall, Carmen Kung, Toni N Manton, Sarah J Murthy, Giselle AL Olive, Trumaine M Rankmore, Nikkita L Roberts, Meagan L Ward, Kelvin M Kong
Click here to view article.
Highly Commended – ‘In Practice’ papers
NSW Health COVID-19 Emergency Response Priority Research program: a case study of rapid translation of research into health decision making
Danielle Campbell, Barry Edwards, Andrew Milat, Sarah Thackway, Elizabeth Whittaker, Laura Goudswaard, Michelle Cretikos, Antonio Penna, Kerry Chant
Click here to view article.
Changes in US hearing aid regulations: possible benefits and risks to Australia
Amber Willink, Nicholas S Reed, Isabelle Boisvert, Catherine M McMahon, Frank R Lin
Click here to view article.
Winners 2021
Best Paper
Health literacy and disparities in COVID-19–related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in Australia
Kirsten J McCaffery, Rachael H Dodd, Erin Cvejic, Julie Ayre, Carys Batcup, Jennifer MJ Isautier, Tessa Copp, Carissa Bonner, Kristen Pickles, Brooke Nickel, Thomas Dakin, Samuel Cornell, Michael S Wolf
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the research.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
Communicating COVID-19 health information to culturally and linguistically diverse communities: insights from a participatory research collaboration
Abigail Wild, Breanne Kunstler, Denise Goodwin, Saturnino Onyala, Li Zhang, Marama Kufi, Wudad Salim, Faduma Musse, Mohamed Mohideen, Molina Asthana, Mohammad Al-Khafaji, Mary Ann Geronimo, Daniel Coase, Erin Chew, Eddie Micallef, Helen Skouteris
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the work.
Highly Commended 2021
Highly Commended – research papers
Impact of COVID-19 on healthcare activity in NSW, Australia
Kim Sutherland, Julia Chessman, Jiaying Zhao, Grant Sara, Amith Shetty, Sharon Smith, Allan Went, Sophie Dyson, Jean-Frédéric Levesque
Click here to view article.
The impact of vicarious trauma on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health researchers
Anne-Marie Eades, Maree Hackett, Margaret Raven, Hueiming Liu, Alan Cass
Click here to view article.
Highly Commended – ‘In Practice’ papers
What makes an effective antismoking campaign – insights from the trenches
Sarah Jane Beasley, Adam Barker, Michael Murphy, Toby Roderick, Tom Carroll
Click here to view article.
Challenges and solutions to sharing a cancer follow-up e-care plan between a cancer service and general practice
Jane Taggart, Melvin Chin, Winston Liauw, David Goldstein, Alex Dolezal, John Plahn, Mark F Harris
Click here to view article.
Winners 2020
Best Paper
The revolving door between government and the alcohol, food and gambling industries in Australia
Narelle M Robertson, Gary Sacks, Peter G Miller
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the research.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
The equitable reach of a universal, multisector childhood obesity prevention program (Live Life Well @ School) in Australian primary schools
Andrea Bravo, Bridget C Foley, Christine Innes-Hughes, Blythe J O’Hara, Bronwyn McGill, Chris Rissel
Click here to view article, and click here to read more about the work.
Highly Commended 2020
Highly commended – research and perspective papers
On a knife’s edge of a COVID-19 pandemic: is containment still possible?
C. Raina MacIntyre
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Developing a screening tool to recognise social determinants of health in Australian clinical settings
Kathryn Browne-Yung, Toby Freeman, Malcolm Battersby, Doug R McEvoy, Fran Baum
Click here to view article.
Highly commended – ‘In Practice’ papers
Proliferation of ‘healthy’ alcohol products in Australia: implications for policy
Danica Keric, Julia Stafford
Click here to view article.
The Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool: a pilot study assessing five interventions for scalability
Karen Lee, Andrew Milat, Anne Grunseit, Kathleen Conte, Luke Wolfenden, Adrian Bauman
Click here to view article.
Winners 2019
Best Paper
Design and delivery of an innovative speech pathology service-learning program for primary school children in Far West NSW, Australia
Sue Kirby, David Lyle, Debra Jones, Claire Brunero, Alison Purcell, Pascale Dettwiller
Click here to view article.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
Lessons from the renewal of the National Cervical Screening Program in Australia
Megan Smith, Ian Hammond, Marion Saville
Click here to view the article.
Watch our video interviews with the winners to learn more about their work.
Highly Commended 2019
The judging panel, comprised of members of the PHRP Editorial Board, has also highly commended the following papers:
Highly commended – research and perspective papers
Obesity prevention in children and young people: what policy actions are needed?
William Bellew, Adrian Bauman, James Kite, Bridget Foley, Lindsey Reece, Margaret Thomas, Seema Mihrshahi, Lesley King
Click here to view the article.
Increasing the use of research in population health policies and programs: a rapid review
Danielle M Campbell, Gabriel Moore
Click here to view the article.
Highly commended – ‘In Practice’ papers
Built environment interventions for human and planetary health: integrating health in climate change adaptation and mitigation
Jason H Prior, Irena LC Connon, Erica McIntyre, Jon Adams, Anthony Capon, Jennifer Kent, Chris Rissel, Leena E Thomas, Susan M Thompson, Harriet Westcott
Click here to view the paper.
Reflections on the NSW Healthy Children Initiative: a comprehensive state-delivered childhood obesity prevention initiative
Christine Innes-Hughes, Chris Rissel, Margaret Thomas, Luke Wolfenden
Click here to view the paper.
Winners 2018
Best Paper
Deadly progress: changes in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult daily smoking, 2004–2015
Raymond Lovett, Katherine Thurber, Alyson Wright, Raglan Maddox, Emily Banks
Click here to view article.
Best ‘In Practice’ Paper
Communicating with the public about the risks of naturally occurring asbestos
Claire Hooker, Adam Capon, Isabel Hess
Click here to view article.
Watch these videos to hear from the winners about their work.
Highly Commended 2018
Highly commended – research papers
Evaluation of ‘Stop Smoking in its Tracks’: an intensive smoking cessation program for pregnant Aboriginal women incorporating contingency-based financial rewards
Megan Passey, Janelle Stirling
Click here to view article.
Support for food policy initiatives is associated with knowledge of obesity-related cancer risk factors
Wendy Watson, Marianne Weber, Clare Hughes, Lyndal Wellard, Kathryn Chapman
Click here to view article.
Highly commended – ‘In Practice’ papers
Intergovernmental collaboration for the health and wellbeing of refugees settling in Australia
Belinda Martin, Paul Douglas
Click here to view article.
The Aboriginal Population Health Training Initiative: a NSW Health program established to strengthen the Aboriginal public health workforce
Ben Li, Aaron Cashmore, Dawn Arneman, Wendy Bryan-Clothier, Lisa McCallum, Andrew Milat
Click here to view article.
