Awards for Impact on Science, Policy or Society

The FitzRoy Award is awarded for distinguished work as a member of, or in the service of the meteorology profession. Award winners are likely to be pursuing a career in meteorology or working in a role supporting meteorological services. This could include those working in the practice, application, advancement, support or teaching of meteorology, who will have demonstrated knowledge, skills and expertise in meteorology and related disciplines. Work that has been published in some form may be referred to in the nomination but is not essential. The Award is made annually if appropriate nominations are received.

Regulations

1. The Award shall be awarded for distinguished work in professional meteorology. Potential nominees are likely to be pursuing a career in meteorology or working in a role supporting meteorological services. This could include those working in the practice, application, advancement, support or teaching of meteorology, either alone or within an organization with management structures or offices.  
2. The Award shall be made annually if a nomination of a sufficiently high standard is forthcoming.
3. The Award shall not be confined to members of the Society.
4. No person shall be eligible for the Award a second time.

Award

The award consists of a certificate.

This award was created in 2022, though it contains elements of the previous “Innovation Award”. The award is based on business and/or public impact and recognises people, projects or programmes within the academic, scientific or business communities who have made significant contributions to educating, informing or motivating organisations in their response to meteorological challenges, for example climate change or significant weather events. The Award is made annually in recognition of contributions from either the professional or amateur communities. It may be awarded to those whose work does not naturally lend itself necessarily to publication in the scientific journal literature but is of significant value to the science of meteorology.

Regulations

1. The award shall recognise people, projects or programmes within the academic, scientific or business communities who have made significant contributions to educating, informing or motivating organisations in their response to meteorological challenges, for example climate change or significant weather events.  Materials and methods used should be innovative and audience appropriate. Evidence of the significance of the impact to the environment shall be required and ideally the person/project should be able to offer examples of where other organisations have adopted or replicated this innovation.
2. The award shall be made annually if a nomination of a sufficiently high standard is forthcoming.
3. The award shall not be limited to Society members.
4. No group of co-authors or team shall be eligible for the award a second time. Individuals may in exceptional circumstances receive the award more than once as part of a different team or co-author group and for a different and distinct contribution to that for which they have previously received the award.

Award

The award consists of a certificate.

The Award for Innovation in Development of Observations or Instrumentation supersedes the Vaisala Award and is awarded annually to recognise individuals or teams within the amateur community, academia or business who have made significant contributions to the field of observation and instrumentation. In particular this award recognises: instrument development; collection and quality control of observations; insight into observing the weather/climate; or meteorological field campaigns.

Regulations

1. The award shall recognise people or teams from within the amateur community, academia or business who have made significant contributions to instrumentation or observing across the meteorological and related sciences (for example weather and climate observing, cloud physics, physical oceanography and atmospheric composition).
2. Specifically, the award shall recognise an outstanding contribution in one of the following areas:
   • instrument development;
   • the collection and quality control of observations;
   • insight into observing the weather/climate;
   • meteorological field campaigns.
3. The Society’s Special Interest Group on Meteorological Observing Systems would provide support to the Awards Committee in fostering nominations from the community for this award.
4. The award shall be made annually if a nomination of a sufficiently high standard is forthcoming.
5. The award shall not be limited to Society members.
6. No group of co-authors or team shall be eligible for the award a second time. Individuals may in exceptional circumstances receive the award more than once as part of a different team or co-author group and for a different and distinct contribution to that for which they have previously received the award.

Award

The award consists of a certificate.

The Award for Innovation in Development of computational models, tools or visualisation will be awarded annually to recognise individuals or teams within the amateur community, academia or business who have made significant contributions to the field of computational models, tools or visualization of their output or other climate or weather related data. In particular, this award recognises: model development, development of visualization techniques for model or other data and development of widely applicable and accessible tools to analyse or process data.

Regulations

1. The award shall recognise people or teams from within the amateur community, academia or business who have made significant contributions to the field of computational models, tools or visualization of their output.
2. Specifically, the award shall recognise an outstanding contribution in one of the following areas:
   • computational model development;
   • development of widely applicable and accessible tools to analyse or process data;
   • development of significant visualization techniques that can be shown to have had impact across the community;
3. The award shall be made annually.
4. The award shall not be limited to Society members.
5. No group of co-authors or team shall be eligible for the award a second time. Individuals may in exceptional circumstances receive the award more than once as part of a different team or co-author group and for a different and distinct contribution to that for which they have previously received the award.

Award

The award consists of a certificate.