The WVPA Young Veterinarian of the Year 2012 award will be presented at Poultry Focus Asia in Bangkok, February 2012 and the 2013 award will be presented at the WVPA Congress in France the following year. The winner will receive US$ 5,000 towards travel and accommodation expenses for attending an international scientific/technical or continued professional education meeting of their choice.

The award is open to qualified veterinarians who are under the age of 35 on 31 December 2011 and will be judged by a panel of global experts. Dr Trevor Bagust, President of the WVPA believes that the award will help to highlight the high standard of veterinary care that the poultry industry has access to:

"Maintaining excellent bird health and welfare is at the very heart of efficient poultry production and so veterinarians have a key role to play in successful poultry businesses.

"This new award will look for individuals who have the dedication, motivation and flexibility that modern poultry veterinarians must have in order to add value to the businesses they service. We are looking for individuals who go beyond best practice; individuals who are an integral and invaluable part of the businesses they support."

Dr Jose Linares, Technical Director, Global Marketing at Pfizer, agrees: "Poultry veterinarians play an essential role in the poultry industry and we are happy to support an award which acknowledges their valuable contribution to its success.

"We know from our own extensive dealings with poultry veterinarians in many countries around the world that there are a lot of very pro-active and innovative veterinarians supporting poultry producers. I’m expecting the standard of entries to be very high and I think the judges have a difficult job ahead of them.

"At Pfizer Animal Health Global Poultry we value customer service and support just as much as our wide range of quality, innovative products: the two go hand-in hand for any successful animal health company. The same applies to successful veterinarians."

Entries for the award can be made only via the dedicated website. Veterinarians will be asked to describe why they believe they should win the award in no more than 500 words. The closing date for entries is 31 December 2011.