Nominations open on 8 December for a total of 12 awards—more than half of which are brand new categories—to recognise excellence in medical practice, especially in the UK. The BMJ Group awards are now established as one of the pre-eminent medical awards, and we hope to get even more than the 643 nominations received last year.

This year we have retained some categories from previous years, including Research Paper of the Year and Junior Doctor of the Year. But we have also launched seven new categories, largely aimed at showcasing the best medicine being practised in the UK. In the year that London hosts the Olympic Games, we have established an award for sport and exercise team of the year, which will go to the clinical team most successfully promoting physical activity or engaged in improving the care of athletes. Tim Brabants, the British kayaker and doctor who won a gold medal at 2008 Olympics in Beijing, will join the judging panel for this award. Speaking from South Africa, where he is currently training, he said: “It is really important to encourage more work in this area as more people recognise the need to increase their daily levels of physical activity. It is not just for the elite level athletes that this specialist area of medicine is required. As an increasing number of people become more physically active, the numbers requiring specialist …