The award is open to individual teachers or groups of teachers who have been employed at the University of Sydney for at least two years. Providing the applicants meet the criteria, five competitive awards are made annually with one award at Lecturer Level A. From 1998, one award may be made on the basis of stimulating, inspiring and nurturing excellence at honours and postgraduate levels.
Excellent teaching promotes effective learning.
In a large and diverse institution, the contexts, settings, requirements and styles of teaching vary, so that it is not possible to specify in advance the range of possibilities. Applicants, nominators and referees, will be asked to provide evidence of excellence in more than one of those dimensions. At the same time, applicants for the award are expected to have a professional approach to teaching and to demonstrate their commitment to, and enthusiasm for teaching. In addition, they must also be seen at least to meet the general criteria for good practice in teaching for their level of appointment. 3a-d may compensate for a lesser performance in others, but cannot substitute for deficiencies in 1 and 2 above.