BEVA Announces New Award Winners
5 months ago 
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BEVA has recognised excellence in the profession with two prestigious post-Congress Awards: Julia Shrubb has won the Sam Hignett Award and Victoria South has won the HBLB Award.
Julia Shrubb, a vet at Ashbrook Equine Hospital in Cheshire, won the Sam Hignett Award for the presentation of the clinical research entitled Understanding UK parasite control practices: A horse owner survey the abstract of which was recently published in the Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ). Julia’s prize is free registration to this year’s AAEP Annual Convention in San Diego (29 November -3 December 2023).
Julia has a particular interest in internal medicine and anaesthesia as well as the management of Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID). She is a member of the VetPartners Equine Clinical Board and the BEVA Sustainability working group.
The Sam Hignett Award is an annual award open to all general equine practice clinical research presented at BEVA Congress. The award is given in memory of Sam Hignett, former President of BEVA and the RCVS. He was a pioneering figure in the veterinary profession and an official veterinarian at national and international horse shows and races, from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Victoria South, European Recognised Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine at the University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine, won the HBLB Award for the presentation of the clinical research entitled Increased risk of fatal laminitis during hospitalisation amongst phallectomy patients compared to laparotomy patients in a UK equine hospital over 10 years the abstract of which was published in the EVJ earlier this year. The lead author of the paper, Rachel Tucker, who is senior associate at Liphook Equine Hospital, was unable to attend Congress so Victoria stood in to deliver the presentation. Victoria’s prize is free registration to BEVA Congress 2024, which can be passed on to a co-author if desired.
Victoria is academic and clinical lead at the University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine and is also undertaking an MSc in evidence-based healthcare at Oxford University.
The new HBLB Award replaces the Voorjaarsdagen and BEVA Award and is open to all those presenting a Clinical Research abstract at BEVA Congress.
The winners of both awards were selected via a continuous process of assessment during abstract submission and live at Congress, using new scoring guidelines this year. For the first time in 2023, a clinical research sub-committee was formed, chaired by James Crabtree and comprised of members of the congress committee and independent expert volunteers. All clinical research submissions underwent blind peer review and were scored by at least two independent reviewers. Research meeting the criteria set by EVJ was reviewed and that of the highest scientific merit and relevance to Congress attendees, was selected to be presented at Congress. The highest scoring abstracts were shortlisted, for the presenters to be judged live at Congress under either the HBLB or Sam Hignett awards. The scoring system was reviewed by the committee and a grading rubric developed to fairly select the most deserving winners.
James Crabtree commented “These two winning presenters represent some of the best and most relevant research presented at Congress. Not only that but Julia and Victoria demonstrated to us in a limited time, how rigorous their scientific findings were and what the clinical relevance was, with clarity of presentation and excellent use of visual materials to illustrate their studies. In addition, they were scored on their interaction with the audience through their ability to answer questions about their research.
“These two award recipients have been through a rigorous process of review and have presented to an audience of peers in a stimulating and effective way and we celebrate this sharing of knowledge through these awards. Well done to you both!”
Abstract submissions for Congress 2024 are open between Thursday 18 January and Thursday 8 February 2024. Further information can be found here.
For further information on the BEVA Awards visit https://www.beva.org.uk/About-Us/BEVA-Awards#samhignett
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