In 2005 The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia gave its first student award at UEA, to a first year student. Noting the positive benefits of that initiative, the Trustees explored the possibility of replicating the idea across all the Universities in the UK that teach Speech and Language Therapy at undergraduate level.

Following a consultation period, we are pleased to announce that the TTA has offered The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Prize to all the relevant Universities.

Annually, each University that has accepted our offer will award one student The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Prize. The value of each of these prizes will be £300. Understanding that university departments already have heavy workloads, the TTA have tried to create a prize that will require the minimum additional work for the academic staff. Knowing, also, the diversity of programmes that exist, we have tried to make the prize as equitable as possible, by making the prize open to students from all years, every year.

The criteria for the prizes, quite simply, is that they should be awarded for an excellent ‘piece of work’ relating to aphasia. The ‘piece’ can be either for academic or practical work: an essay, a piece of research, clinical practice, conversation partner or similar scheme – each university has been invited to develop their own approach, to fit in with their own style and programme.

The Trustees of the TTA have been overwhelmed by the positive response from Universities and the creative ideas that have emerged as a result of this offer. We are very grateful to the staff of these departments for their enthusiastic and positive response and we look forward to an interesting and evolving partnership. This project will be reviewed after five years.

Here are some quotes from the responses received:

… We are excited by this innovative and generous approach to encouraging students to produce work of an excellent academic standard, relating to aphasia….. The brief provides wide ranging scope for the students to engage creatively with the topic, and will foster a positive attitude to the development of academic understanding and its integration with the demands of practice …Canterbury Christchurch University

… We are very pleased to be invited to take part in this splendid initiative and I am sure that it will have the desired effect of raising the profile of Aphasia amongst students in the UK…University of Essex

… We would be delighted to offer the Tavistock Prize to our students…..Can I thank you on behalf of our students for this opportunity – they are excited about the prize and I hope this will raise the profile of aphasia work amongst our student group… Birmingham City University, Birmingham

… This innovative award will undoubtedly raise the profile of aphasia amongst our students. The focus at such an embryonic stage in their careers may stimulate and encourage further interest in the topic. It may help to increase the number of aphasia clinicians with whom people with aphasia may work in partnership in the future… University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

… This is a really exciting development and an excellent way to raise awareness of aphasia amongst students… we have had several discussions amongst ourselves about how to select the prize winner in the first year…. all our students have a number of opportunities to conduct excellent aphasia related work… Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

… We endeavour to maintain a high profile for aphasia here at the University and will welcome the opportunity to reward excellent student work in this field… University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Declined the offer of an annual Student Prize, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds

… We were delighted to receive this generous offer… we look forward to being able to award the Prize for the first time in the summer of 2008… De Montfort University, Leicester

… We think this is an excellent proposal and would be delighted to be involved… We welcome your aim of making the prize eligible for all students… with this in mind we plan to award the prize for a special assignment.... Thank you again for this creative and important innovation… City University, London

… As you know, we have a strong tradition of aphasia studies, and a great commitment on the part of staff and students to clinical excellence in the field. The Tavistock Prize will provide us with a great incentive to maintain [and] enhance our standards in these areas… University College London

… We are delighted to accept your offer. It will enhance our involvement with the Conversation Partner Project, and our ability to give academic and clinical work in the field of aphasia, a strong emphasis across all levels of our programmes… Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester

… We appreciate both the generosity and flexibility of the offer and are pleased that the prize could potentially be awarded to a student from any year… There is a variety of ways in which a student may demonstrate excellence and your proposal allows us to recognise any such example…The University of Manchester

… We are delighted to accept. It is a substantial amount of money and will be a real incentive for students to put effort into their work with people with aphasia… University of Newcastle upon Tyne

… The very generous TTA student prize has heightened awareness of Aphasia throughout the three years of the SLT programme at UEA, enabling us to link excellence to a variety of student assignments & experiences - first year Conversation Partners placement, second year acquired language disorders assignment, or 3rd year dissertations. For the students themselves, the link between the prize and the motivations for the foundation of the Tavistock Trust helps provide an insight into the positive impact that therapy can have on the quality of life of individual people with aphasia... University of East Anglia, Norwich

… Thank you and your fellow Trustees at the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia for the generous gift known as ‘The Tavistock Trust Aphasia Prize’. For those of us who work directly with students seeking a career pathway within speech and language therapy, this prize will provide an excellent opportunity to profile aphasia therapy and to motivate students towards this specialist area of work. It will also provide an incentive that will help to drive up standards and reward excellence… Marjon – University College of St Mark & St John, Plymouth

… delighted to receive your letter this morning offering us a student prize of £300… Aphasia is an important part of our undergraduate … studies… We therefore will have a number of projects to consider. This is indeed excellent news for all our students… The University of Reading

… Thank you for … making a generous offer… We are very pleased accept this offer. We hope it will motivate students to develop an interest in aphasia and winners of the prize would be able to enhance their CV and access specific occupational and educational opportunities linked to aphasia as a result of the award... The University of Sheffield

… Please pass our grateful thanks to the Board of Trustees for this excellent proposal, which I am sure will help to raise the profile of Aphasia even more amongst students… University of Jordontown, Ulster