Honours and awards

A chance to recognise outstanding achievement

When someone goes above and beyond expectations, they deserve recognition. The RCVS honours and awards celebrate the exceptional contributions of veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses, and others who make a real difference to animal health and welfare.

You can nominate a colleague - or yourself - through our simple nomination process. 

Start planning your nomination

Nominations for this year open in the autumn, so please keep an eye out for updates. In the meantime, why not explore the award categories below and start thinking about who you’d like to put forward.

If you have any questions about the process, please contact Kieran Thakrar, Executive Assistant to the CEO, at [email protected].

New for 2026: Celebrating Collaboration

Our new Collaboration Award recognises the impact of teamwork and partnership. Inspired by the ‘Stronger together’ theme of our 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, it highlights collaboration as essential to delivering the best outcomes.

Making a nomination

Please note: nominations open in autumn, so please key an eye out for updates. 

Making a nomination is straightforward but we need specific information to help our Council make informed decisions.

For each nomination, you will be asked to provide:

• the nominee's name and the award category;
• at least two supporting statements (maximum 250 words each); and
• each supporter's name, job title, relationship to the nominee, and the date.

We recommend keeping your nomination confidential from the nominee - this helps protect their dignity if they are not selected.

You can submit only one nomination per year and support only one nomination per award category.

Can you nominate yourself?  

Yes! We accept self-nominations for most awards, because we recognise that exceptional work doesn't always get the recognition it deserves.

However, self-nominations are not allowed for the Queen's Medal, Honorary Associateship, or VN Golden Jubilee Award.

If you are nominating yourself:

• Write about yourself in the third person (instead of “I developed a new programme for vet nurses,” write “Jane Doe developed a new training programme for vet nurses”).
• Provide at least two supporting statements from other people. Ensure that at least one supporter is not a close colleague, friend, or family member.

What happens next?

After the nomination deadline, our Officer Team reviews all submissions and presents them to Council in March.

The RCVS Council has complete discretion over the awards. If they feel no nominee meets the required standard for a particular award, they may choose not to present it that year.

We contact successful nominees directly. The awards ceremony takes place at RCVS Day, which is in July every year.