Call: UYA Purple Crocodile Award*

Can you think of a great initiative that has reduced your work pressure? A new way of doing things that freed up the time for you and your colleagues? Is there something or someone that regularly makes your work life easier, but doesn’t get sufficient recognition? Then you can nominate them for The new Purple Crocodile Award!

The Purple Crocodile award has been created by the Utrecht Young Academy to recognize the unsung heroes at UU who are working, often behind the scenes, to reduce the administrative burden that we all face.

Think of the computer systems that have been built to automatize administrative tasks, teaching tools that have been developed to enhance learning and unburden teachers, and the creative ways that have been found to simplify administrative processes. Think of the people who are working behind the scenes to make the lives easier for everyone at the university, so that more time can be spent on research, education, patient care, and societal impact.

Because many of these activities go on behind-the-scenes, they are rarely recognized and rewarded publicly. Not recognizing these initiatives is not only a pity from a Rewards & Recognition perspective, but it also means that good initiatives are not always shared between faculties.  

With the Purple Crocodile Award, The Utrecht Young Academy is creating an opportunity to put efforts like these into the spotlight. The prize consists of a publicly awarded honor and  and a small monetary prize to be spent on initiatives that build the team spirits of the winning people even further.

*This award is named after a famous TV commercial in the Netherlands in the 2000s, wherein a mother is forced to fill in a ridiculously elaborate form simply in order to retrieve her daughters large blow-up purple crocodile from the ‘lost and found’ section of a swimming pool. This prize is meant to honor those who fight these crocodiles in our organization.