Section A
Rules & Eligibility
- For the paper to be considered for the award, it shall be necessary for the author to e-mail the abstract to the Chairperson, Awards Committee by a date to be determined by the Executive Council of the CPS-CZ. The abstract should be structured and contain the aims/objectives, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion.
- To be eligible for the award, the paper must fulfill each of the following criteria:
- It must be a research paper based on work done in India.
- It must not have been submitted to, accepted for publication, or published in a scientific journal at the time of submission of the award paper to the CPS-CZ annual conference, nor presented at a national or international conference earlier.
- The principal author, the author presenting the paper, and at least 50 percent of all authors must be members of the Central Psychiatric Society — Central Zone at the time of the closing date for the award. Not more than two papers will be considered from any member, as the principal author, for the award.
- An author or co-author must not have won the Tara Naidu Award in the immediately preceding year.
- The award-winning paper will become the property of the Central Psychiatric Society — Central Zone and shall be published in the Indian Journal of Behavioural Sciences with the necessary editorial corrections. An undertaking of the same has to be submitted while applying for the award. Full paper must be submitted within 4 weeks of the last date of conference. Full paper not submitted to the Indian Journal of Behavioural Sciences shall not be awarded.
- It, or a significantly similar paper, must not have earlier received an award of the IPS-CZ. A paper with substantially the same content cannot compete in more than one category in the conference. A declaration should also be submitted.
- A panel of judges shall rate the paper. The marks are assigned for preparation, compilation and presentation of the paper. The paper securing the highest total marks (out of 100) shall win the award, subject to ratification by the Awards Committee and the Executive Council of the society. In case of a tie, the concerned papers will be declared the joint winners. Furthermore, the award-winning paper must secure not less than 50 per cent of the full marks.
- All the authors of the award-winning paper(s) shall be considered to have won the award, will be issued certificates, and will be eligible for the award money. The prize money (₹ 10,000) shall be handed over to the principal author for disbursement among the co-authors.
- None of the judges appointed for this award shall be a contestant for this award. However, a judge is eligible to contest for any other award.
Registration is mandatory.
All paper authors must be registered for CIPCON 2026. Submissions close 31st July 2026.