The Pearl of Wisdom Awards are given to recognise the people and organisations that have made exceptional efforts to prevent cervical cancer in their communities. For the next Pearl of Wisdom Awards that will be given during the Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (24-30 January, 2010) the members of the European Cervical Cancer Association (ECCA) and Politicians for Cervical Cancer Prevention (PCCP) will propose the projects they consider worthy of an award and then vote for the 12 projects they consider the best.

Submission Criteria:

1. Projects should be targeted to the general public at the town, region or country level. For example, a project to implement a cervical cancer screening programme with multiple clinics serving the population of a town, region or country would be eligible but the implementation of a screening service within a single clinic would not.
2. Projects should be designed to produce a direct impact on cervical cancer rates. For example, a project to educate the women of a town, region or country about how they can best protect themselves and their daughters from cervical cancer to increase the use of the services that are available would be eligible but a research project to evaluate the performance of a diagnostic test or vaccine that would later be used in a prevention programme would not.
3. The people or organisations involved in the project should not receive any direct or indirect financial incentives from the project. For example, people or organisations working for the implementation of a HPV vaccination programmes would be eligible for an award provided they were not receiving any financial incentives other than their normal salary from the programme. However, companies or employees of companies that have supported the planning or implementation of a HPV vaccination programme but have then sold or will be selling products or services to those programmes would not be eligible.
4. The project should have made substantial and measurable progress towards its goal. The project does not have to be complete, but it must be able to demonstrate that concrete milestones have been achieved. For example, a screening programme that has a published implementation plan, established an administrative structure and has agreed its budget with the government would be eligible even if the programme has not yet been rolled-out as these are significant milestones in the process of implementing the programme.

All members of the ECCA and the PCCP are invited to submit projects to be considered for an award. Please sign-in to the Members' Area to obtain the submission forms.