Sandra Lewis served as our President for many years and resigned in 2009 to pursue a new career. The QEST Committee decided to honour her diligence with an award.  The committee chooses two delegates from the general membership every second year for the opportunity to attend LabCON with two committee members. Those who have attended in previous years have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This conference is a three day event organised by our Victorian colleagues held late Term 4.  The award covers all transport, accommodation and registration costs for LabCON.

To qualify to be chosen as a general membership delegate you may either create a video for publication the QEST YouTube channel or submit an article for publication in LabLINK . Videos are ideally 5-8 minutes long, need to contain reliable information and model safe practices.  Articles need to be at least one page in length on any relevant topic that you have found interesting, a procedure that you have developed to adapt a practical to suit your conditions or clientele, a safety issue, improved resource management or a review of a resource / website / smartphone app / iBookU, or similar.  You may think you have nothing to offer, but there is a steady turnover of laboratory technicians and the new recruits may be struggling with the very problem you have solved.

Awardees will be drawn at the AGM via lottery. Two names in each category (general membership and committee member) are to be drawn, with at least two further names to be drawn from each category as a stand in should the original awardees not be able to attend. Awardees may choose to decline the opportunity at the AGM if they know they are unable to attend. Past winners are eligible to win in consecutive years, however they may choose to decline the opportunity and offer it to the stand-ins, as a courtesy.

This award is not transferable. If an awardee is unable to attend LabCON, the next drawn out name available will go in their stead. In the case of stand in members drawn at the AGM also being unable to attend, further stand in members may be chosen at the discretion of the Management Committee, especially in the case of members being unable to attend after bookings and payments have been made on their behalf by QEST. The decision of the Management Committee is final.

Winners of the Sandra Lewis Achievement Award:

Year Member Name
2010 Members: Sandra Campbell, Kylie Azzopardi
Committee Members: Mandy Timmers, Peta Perry
2012 Members: Tania Chew, Michelle Graham
Committee Members: Bec Smith, David Wild
2014 Members: Sharon O’Keeffe, Callum Hair
Committee Members: Jane Skelton, Michelle Graham
2016 Members: Bruce Cooper, Leah Heaney
Committee Members: Nikki Bradford, Lucy Galea
2018 Members: Hilary Maloney, Christine Weller
Committee Members: Tricia Tahir, Linda Adamson