Wim Renders, president of the EFHSS, presented on the DSc 2005 Congress in London the first "Sparkling Egg" Award to Miss Gillian Sills, chairman of the IFSS.

He said the following:

"Every self respecting organisation nowadays has his own award. You certainly are familiar with the Grammy's, the Oscars, the Pullitzer price, and so on. But from today, the EFHSS has its own Nobel price. We don't call it that way, of course. We just call it "The Sparkling Egg Award". From now on, it is the intention to give the price yearly, at the occasion of the congress, to someone who made a significant, substantial contribution to sterilization in general. There is no money involved but we hope the carrier is proud of wearing a beautiful unique pin.

The name of our award has a little bit of prehistory and needs some explanation, I think. The morning after a very respectable night, someone got up and ordered sparkling eggs for breakfast. I guess he was too scrambled himself to order scrambled eggs. And as I've heard he still is waiting for his order. It was in fact Paul Holland who came up with the idea to honour the person with the best accomplishments each year. He combined both and the award was born. The name is brilliant because: an egg contains all the necessary elements for life but it can look a bit dull. That's why it has to be given a sparkle to become and remain alive.

There were some very good candidates or nominees, to stay in the terminology, for this first award. But the jury was unanimous. The very first "Sparkling Egg Award" goes to someone who has walked a million miles for sterilisation. Somebody who nourished some of the organisations. Someone who has done a whole lot for education. Ultimately, it is thanks to her that we are here today. She gave sterilization an international dimension which resulted in an enormous improvement of the daily practice all over the world. The first winner is Miss Gillian Sills. She gets the award for her lifelong career in service of sterilisation.

Gillian, hundreds of people have Oscars but you are the first one to get this sparkling egg. Thank you for your commitment and lot's of success in your further career."

Wim Renders
31 March 2005

Presentation of the "Sparkling Egg Award 2005" to Gillian Sills

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