Queensland Women in STEM Prize

Submissions open: Friday 4 July 2025
Submissions close: Friday 8 August 2025 (5pm AEST)
All entrants contacted and finalists announced: October 2025
Award ceremony and announcement of prize recipients: Wednesday 13 November 2025

The 2025 Queensland Women in STEM Prize is presented by Queensland Museum and the Queensland Government through the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Innovation and Science, and the Office for Women.

Applications for the 2025 Queensland Women in STEM Prize are now closed.

1. Refer to the nomination booklet and Conditions of Entry.
2. Complete your nomination online. Nominations provided in hard copy or by way of email, USB or cloud storage will not be accepted.
   Note: sections from the nomination booklet will also be included online throughout the nomination process as hint boxes which will pop up as the nominator progresses through each stage.
3. Nominations must include:

   Response to all nomination questions (required)
   Address the questions relevant to the selected nomination category – this must be completed to be a valid nomination and assessed by the judges. These responses should not include confidential information as the responses may be made publicly available should the nomination be shortlisted.

Consent (required)
If not self-nominating, the nominator is encouraged to contact the nominee prior to submitting the nomination to seek their consent and feedback prior to submitting the nomination.

A Short CV (required)
Please upload a short CV (maximum 2 pages) that summarises your career experience.

Employment Summary table
Please download the Employment Summary table outlining the duration of each job/research position you have held, and the length of that position in months/years. This will be used by the judges to determine eligibility.

References (required)
Contact details for two referees must be provided. One of the referees must provide a signed letter of reference to be uploaded with the nomination. Only one letter of reference is required, however a letter of reference from both referees may be provided if desired. References must be written by persons other than the Nominee (the person being nominated).

Letters of reference must be written in reference to the nomination and are to provide further information about the Nominee. As a guide, letters should include the following information:

• referee’s relationship to the Nominee;
• referee’s interpretation of how the Nominee has contributed to Queensland, including their support to women and girls; and
• if able, provide qualitative and/or quantitative results on the Nominee’s successes.

If letters of reference are sent via email, letters must include a signature block from the sender incorporating email address and telephone number. As part of the standard reference check process, referees may be contacted to verify their reference and provide additional information. Contact details for a third referee and/or additional letters of reference may also be supplied within your nomination, however this is not mandatory.

Supporting documentation (optional)
You may submit up to five items of supporting documentation with your nomination, such as photos or videos of you engaging with others about STEM, publications or report lists, newspaper articles and additional references. Supporting documentation must be relevant to the nomination. Supporting documentation must be uploaded via the online nomination portal as prompted and will not be accepted by any other means. (Maximum upload limit 3MB per item).

No. Applicants are not required to hold a STEM qualification to apply.

Yes. You can nominate yourself or you can nominate someone you know.

If you are nominating someone you know, please ensure that they consent to their personal information being submitted as part of their nomination.

The Prize is open to women with up to 10 years of work experience in a STEM-related field.

The following will be considered towards 10 years of STEM career:

• paid work in a STEM role,
• volunteer work experience in a STEM role.

The following is not included in the 10 years in STEM career calculation:

• time spent on leave, career breaks and study/work outside a STEM field,
• time spent undertaking any formal STEM education or research, including TAFE, undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, including PhD.

To be eligible for the First Nations STEM Award, nominees must also:

• be of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage;
• identify as Aboriginal and /or Torres Strait Islander; and
• be accepted as such by the communities in which they live or have lived.

To be eligible for the Breaking Barriers Award, nominees must also:

• identify as having a disability (as defined under the Disability Services Act 2006); or
• be a carer (as defined under the Carers (Recognition) Act 2008); or
• be an individual who has settled in Queensland as a refugee (as defined under the Migration Act 1958).

Nominations can only be submitted online.

Receipt of all nominations will be acknowledged via an automatically generated email from Award Force. Please ensure you provide a correct email address on your nomination form. If you do not receive a confirmation email within two business days after submitting your nomination, please notify the organiser via email or telephone (07) 3153 3000. No responsibility will be taken for nominations that do not receive a confirmation email.

You may be contacted after submitting a nomination and asked to provide further details.

Nominations must be received by 5pm Friday 8 August 2025.

Late nominations will not be considered. No responsibility will be taken for nominations that are not received by the closing date.

Applications must be submitted by an individual. Teams are ineligible to apply. Entrants working as part of a team are encouraged to apply as an individual by focusing their application on their contribution to the team project.

Previous winners of the Queensland Women in STEM Prize are ineligible. If you have entered a previous Queensland Women in STEM Prize, but did not receive an award, you are welcome (and encouraged!) to enter again.

Eligible entries will be judged by a panel of experts in September 2025.

Nominations will be assessed on:

• a well-articulated summary of the Nominee’s contribution to or impact to Queensland through STEM;
• a clear demonstration, with practical examples, of how the Nominee has acted as a positive role model and provided support to women and girls aspiring to work in STEM; and
• the evidence of the Nominee’s engagement in promoting STEM to a wider audience.

All questions must be completed, and CV uploaded, in order to progress through to judging. When answering the questions, it is important to provide specific examples of your / the Nominee’s achievements, or significant contribution to Queensland through STEM.

The awards will be determined by a panel of judges, including representatives from Queensland Museum and the Queensland science community, the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and the Office for Women, Department of Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Multiculturalism.

Members of the judging panel will be required to declare any conflicts of interest that may arise from a personal or professional relationship with the nominees. Where a direct conflict of interest with a nominee exists, the judging member will abstain from ranking, scoring or voting for the nominee during judging panel deliberations.

Winning recipients must use their Prize Money for professional development i.e., conference attendance, STEM-communication training, career-enhancing courses, research field trips, internships, purchasing new software etc.

Winning recipients are required to acquit their prize within 12-months, providing evidence of what professional development activity their prize money was spent on.

Winners and Highly Commended recipients will also receive a promotional package comprising:

• access to professional photo/s of the receipts at the Award Ceremony and professional head shots taken at the Award Ceremony,
• a professional video package highlighting the achievements of the winners and highly commended recipients, to be filmed by the Office for Women following the Awards Ceremony,
• inclusion in Queensland Women in STEM Prize media releases and social media activity distributed by Queensland Museum, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and the Office for Women, Department of Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Multiculturalism following the Awards Ceremony.