Background and Rules

Background of the Prize

The Rainer Gross Prize: Recent Innovations in Nutrition and Health in Developing Societies was created by the Hildegard Grunow Foundation to honour the memory of the late Dr. Rainer Gross and memorialise his unique approach to innovation in concepts and research in critical -- but novel -- areas of inquiry, with a view to better the nutrition and health of the less fortunate. With the awarding of this Prize, we recognize the merits of others who continue the generation and pursuit of innovative ideas and projects in nutrition and health in developing societies. The Prize is endowed with 2500 USD, and will be awarded biennially on the occasion of a large international nutrition-related meeting. The first award was made to Aaron Lechtig of Peru and Angela Cespedes of Bolivia in September 2010, on the occasion of the II World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in Porto, Portugal.
The award ceremony includes a lecture by the awardee(s) on the work being recognized and the presentation of the certificate and the monetary award. The awardee(s) are invited to write a corresponding review-style, overview article regarding the background of the innovation, to be published in the Food and Nutrition Bulletin.

Rules of nomination and application

Selection criteria

• Submitted work must be recent (conducted within the last 5 years) and innovative – i.e. judged as making needy communities at nutritional risk and fellow professionals aware of previously unrecognized problems, while beginning to open a pathway to their practical solution.

• Such concepts should have sufficient supporting evidence regarding their feasibility and likely applicability. Moreover, they should have passed beyond the "idea" stage into proof-of-principle evidence or initial (“pilot”) demonstration, although the derivative findings do not necessarily need to have been formally published in the scientific or technical literature at the time of the Prize application.

• Topics may include the entire gamut of problems related to human nutrition, ranging from the molecular to the population level. This does not exclude technical inventions and plant- or animal-breeding initiatives, provided they are original and novel and deemed likely to solve important nutritional problems for disadvantaged people in developing countries.

Nomination Process

All nominations and entries should be accompanied by a brief report in English of not more than one single-spaced, printed page, which includes and covers the following details:

a. General information on the nominated individual.

b. The characteristics, merits, and contributions of the project proposed/carried out by the individual.

c. The methodology used for the development, financing and implementation of the nominated project.

d. The localities or communities benefited by the project.

In addition to the summarized information (a – d), a recent publication or submission-ready manuscript must be submitted. It can be: already published (within the last 5 years), currently submitted, or ready for submission, and must be originally written in or translated into English. If submitted in manuscript form, the length must not exceed 20 typewritten pages (216 x 279 mm (8½ x 11 in) or ISO A4 (212 x 297 mm), with margins of at least 2.5 cm; use double-spacing and 12-point type) including references, tables and figures.

The last date for receipt of application/nomination submissions for the 2012 Prize will be July 31 of that year. Only complete submissions, complying with the aforementioned guidelines (a-d plus publication or manuscript) will be included in the judging.

Nominations for the Rainer Gross Prize must be submitted in writing to:

Hildegard-Grunow-Foundation; Clemensstr. 27, D-80803 Munich, Germany

Alternatively, nominations may be submitted electronically from the submission link (max. 10 MB).

Safe receipt in the Foundation will be confirmed either by e-mail or postal mail.

The application packets (one-page application and publication or manuscript) received will be forwarded to a jury panel consisting of two members for the board of HGF, and three internationally regarded professionals in the arena of the policy, scientific and technological aspects of human and community nutrition. The procedure governing the granting of the award will be based on the principles of attention to the dissemination of news, transparency, objectivity and non-discrimination as to race, religion, national origin or geographical residence of the applicants / nominees. The jury will announce its decision on the basis of the highest scoring of submission, and the decision of the jury is final. The next prize will be awarded in November 2012. The Prize Lecture will be held during the XVI Congreso Latinoamericano de Nutrición in Havana, Cuba; the travel costs and meeting expenses of the awardee(s) to present the Prize Lecture will be covered by the HGF.