Awards

BEVA Rewards Excellence

Each year BEVA presents awards to the brightest and best in equine veterinary medicine to honour their outstanding contributions in the field.

The BEVA Equine Welfare Award, sponsored by Blue Cross

The winner of this year’s prestigious BEVA Equine Welfare Award is Professor A.M. (‘Mac’) Johnston OBE BVM&S DVetMed FRSH DipECVPH HonFRCVS. Mac Johnston was an author and a lecturer in equine medicine at the RVC and subsequently a renowned authority in public health. Although living in the Scottish Highlands and commuting to the RVC Mac provided much needed ‘expert’ help for local people and vets. After retiring from the RVC he worked in the community mentoring younger vets and dealing with awkward cases and clients. Mac cares deeply for horses and without his expert help, the welfare of horses in his region of the Scottish Highlands would have suffered a great deal.

The BEVA Richard Hartley Clinical Award

The winner of this award is Alan Nixon for his paper ’Treatment of subchondral cystic lesions of the medial femoral condyle of mature horses with growth factor enhanced chondrocyte grafts: A retrospective study of 49 cases’ by A.J. Nixon, K.F. Ortved, H.O. Mohammed and L.A. Fortier, first published online in December 2011 and then in September 2012, Volume 44 of Equine Veterinary Journal. The award is given in memory of Richard Hartley, a founder member of BEVA and President from 1974 to 1975. It is awarded for evidence-based papers and the prize is intended to support travel of the senior author and/or co-authors.

The BEVA Trust Peter Rossdale EVJ Open Award

The winner of this award is Benjamin Jacklin for the paper ’Incidence and frequency distributions of 174 fractures of the distal condyles of the third metacarpal and metatarsal bones in 167 Thoroughbred racehorses (1999–2009)‘ first published online in March 2012 and then in November 2012, Volume 44, of Equine Veterinary Journal. This award is given for the paper that best achieves EVJ’s mission to publish articles which influence and improve clinical practice and/or add significantly to the scientific knowledge that underpins and supports veterinary medicine in relation to the horse. The award is made by the BEVA Trust in recognition of Peter Rossdale’s immense contribution to BEVA and EVJ.

The BEVA Trust Queen Mother Award

This is awarded for the best travel report written by a Queen Mother Student Travel Award recipient. This year’s winner is Adele Williams who reported on her visit to SPANA Mali in West Africa during January 2012. If you would like to read Adele’s report it is available to view on the BEVA Trust section of the BEVA website www.beva.org.uk.

The Voorjaarsdagen and BEVA Awards

In 2005 the Voorjaarsdagen and BEVA Awards were introduced to mark the close relationship between the two Associations. The award is selected and presented biannually, once at the Voorjaarsdagen Congress and once at BEVA Congress, and is open to all those presenting a Clinical Research paper. This year’s BEVA Award winner is Nicky Van Der Vekens of the University of Ghent. Her paper ‘Atrial natriuretic peptides detect cardiac dilatation’ was first presented at the Voorjaarsdagen Congress in April 2013 and will be presented in the Clinical Research session. The Voorjaarsdagen Award winner will be selected from those presenting a Clinical Research paper at this year’s BEVA Congress. Their prize will be an expenses paid trip to the Voorjaarsdagen Congress 2014 where they will have the opportunity to present their paper again.

The BEVA Trust Equine Transport Enforcement Award

Graham Capper is the second recipient of the BEVA Trust Equine Transport Enforcement Award. This award was introduced by the BEVA Trust in recognition of the individual or group working in the field, doing the most to improve enforcement of the current transport regulations. Through his roles as Senior Enforcement Officer for Wrexham Trading Standards and the National Lead for LACORS, Graham initiated and ran targeted multi-agency enforcement checks to tackle long-distance transport of Equidae in Europe. He also worked to bring together the different agencies involved and developed standard operating procedures. Graham has also been proactive in working to improve enforcement across the UK by raising awareness through publicising the problems he and his team have encountered and by facilitating improved communication and information exchange.

The Sam Hignett Award

All Clinical Research presentations from general equine practice are eligible for the Sam Hignett Award. A continuous process of assessment will take place throughout the Clinical Research sessions and the winner of the award will be announced after Congress through the BEVA website and newsletter.