Overview
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by the Canadian Spine Society (CSS).  The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to a Canadian, either practicing, retired or posthumous, who has significantly contributed to the advancement of spine care and has best exemplified the mission statement of the CSS. This award will not be presented annually but rather only when considered appropriate based on the quality of a submitted application(s). A maximum of one award in any given year will be made. If an application is successful, a presentation will be made to the Award winner at the annual CSS Scientific Conference; the Award recipient will have the opportunity to address the membership. Award recipients will have their names, pictures and biographies posted on the Awards page of the CSS website.

Award Committee
The Lifetime Achievement Award Committee is responsible for all Award decisions. The Award Committee is comprised of 5 people from the current Executive Committee’s Members at Large section. The Committee should include at least one orthopaedic surgeon and one neurosurgeon member. If a Committee member is nominated for the Award, that person will be excused from the decision process. Committee members are permitted to nominate and/or second an Award application and be involved in the decision process.

Call for Nominations
Only CSS members in good standing can nominate someone for the Award. Nominations must include a seconder, who does not have to be CSS member. A Seconder must be from an institution outside of the location of the Nominator. Nominations for deceased surgeons will be accepted. If a Candidate dies between the application submission and the annual CSS Scientific Conference, the Award may still be given. Candidates must be willing to travel at their own expense to the annual CSS Scientific Conference to accept the Award in person.

Please take the time to enjoy the biographies and comments from the past recipients of this award.

2018 – Dr. Hamilton Hall
2006 – Dr. John Kostuik
2005 – Dr. Edward H. Simmons
2004 – Dr. Gordon Armstrong
2003 – Dr. Charles H. Tator
2002 – Dr. W.H. Kirkaldy-Willis

This award is presented, when considered appropriate, by the Canadian Spine Society to a Canadian Surgeon, either practicing or retired, who has contributed significantly to the advancement of the surgical subspecialty of spine surgery. The award presentation will be at the annual CSS meeting, where the recipient will have the opportunity to address the membership.

A Nominator must submit the following to the Awards Committee:
• CSS Lifetime Achievement Award application form
• Candidate’s curriculum vitae (maximum 50 pages)
• Candidate’s biographical summary (maximum 2 pages)
• Candidate’s list of publications
• Outline of the Candidate’s contributions to the field of spine surgery/research (maximum 3 pages)
• 2 sponsoring letters, one from the Nominator and one from a Seconder (maximum 2 pages from each person).

It is a Nominator’s responsibility to ensure that all required documents are submitted. The Award committee will not contact a Nominator for missing information. Failure to include all required documentation will result in a rejected application. Only electronic submission of documents will be accepted.

Please email all documents to:  css@spinecanada.ca

To be eligible for Award presentation at the annual CSS Scientific Conference, nominations and all required paperwork must be received 12 weeks prior to the Conference.  The Nominator will be notified of the Award Committee’s decision 6 weeks prior to the Conference.

The Award Committee will keep unsuccessful applications on file for one additional year; thus, unsuccessful applications will be automatically considered the following year. If the Candidate fails to win the Award in that following year, either the same or new Nominator has to submit a new set of the required paperwork to be considered in the subsequent year.

CSS Lifetime Achievement Award Application Form(DOWNLOAD PDF)