When I was elected to the Executive Committee in 2007, Kate Davidson handed me the enormous task to raise the national profile of the Society. This was especially difficult since much of this had to be done from very limited financial resources, and the fact that outside gerontology, the Society is generally not known, particularly when our membership is comparatively small. The Past President, Chris Phillipson, had in his term been able to re-energise and reactivate the tripartite umbrella organisation, the British Council on Ageing first created under the Chairmanship (1) of Tony Warnes. It was hoped that this would allow us additional capacity to respond to Government papers and consultations from HEFECE, Universities UK and the Research Councils. Largely because all the work of the Executive and its officers is undertaken gratis and on a voluntary basis, this hope has in truth largely fallen by the wayside – yet I am sure if there is any member who could help with such responses on behalf of the BSG they would be warmly welcomed.

Faced with little success in achieving this enhanced profile, I proposed to the Executive that we create a prize in honour of Alan Walker, not only to recognise his extensive achievements, but also because of his high profile in both the academic, policy related and practitioner worlds. Yet equally, the creation of the prize was also intended to contribute to help in generating a higher national profile and would be linked to our prestige event, the annual conference.

The award will be made to an individual or organisation that, in the opinion of the judges, has made a significant and lasting contribution to British social gerontology. This might be through for example, campaigning, teaching, lobbying, service provision, fundraising, journalism and research. In particular, the award should be made to an individual or organisation that has made a significant impact on the policy process and helped improve the quality of life of older people. Nominees do not have to be current members of the Society, but will be encouraged to join! In the unlikely event that the committee agree that none of the nominees meet the criteria of the award, they can then make an award outside of the nominations received. The judge’s decision will be final and they will not enter into any communication about that decision.

Although, in my opinion, this is a small step in building a higher profile for the Society I encourage you all to embrace it and support it. It should be seen as a prestigious award and I encourage you to make a nomination. Nomination forms can be downloaded by clicking this link or from the Society's website: www.britishgerontology.org.uk. Completed forms must be with me (as secretary to the awards committee) no later than 12:00 ( noon) on 16 th June 2008. Any received after this time will be deemed invalid.

(1) The title of President was created from Mary Gilhooly’s period of office.