Entry Guidelines

The Orthopedics This Week® Spine Technology Awards® recognize exemplary and innovative spine surgery products and the engineering teams and inventors who create them.

Who May Enter:

Inventors (and companies) who’ve developed a new product which may improve patient outcomes from spine surgery may enter this contest.
Rules: Technologies that are eligible for a 2011 Spine Technology Award must be:

1. Any device, biomaterial or biologic product that was developed to improve the care of patients with spine disease
2. The owners of the technology must have applied for patent protection within 36 months prior to the awards presentation (after November 3, 2008)
3. The technology must have been used in humans (clinical studies or other)
4. It need NOT be either FDA cleared or approved
5. If FDA approved or cleared, such approval or clearance was received NO MORE than 12 months before the awards presentation
6. No prior WINNING technology may be submitted again

How to Enter:

Companies should select the category or categories in which their technology should be judged. Submissions for more than one category is acceptable but only for a maximum of two categories. For example, an implant may be eligible for lumbar surgery and in a somewhat different form, for cervical surgery. In the case of a multiple category submission, the applicant must submit a separate application for each category.

-Please include one completed entry form for each technology
-Submit two copies of each entry form
-Up to 8 pages of support documentation
-All entries become the property of RRY Publications LLC.

Submission deadlines:

September 30, 2011 – All Technology Submissions Due
October 26, 2011 – Technology Winners Announced
November 3, 2011 – Awards will be presented during NASS

Judging will be based on originality, clinical relevance and likelihood that this technology can improve current standards of care. The Spine Technology Award panel includes leading surgeons with clinical and research experience in cervical care,thoracolumbar care, motion preservation, minimally invasive spine care, biomaterials and biologics, and venture capitalists with extensive experience nurturing spine technologies to market.

Awards and Recognition:

Awards will be announced October 17, 2011 and certificates personally distributed at NASS in Chicago. All winners will be featured in a special edition of Orthopedics This Week, OTM: Spine (post-NASS/pre-AAOS issue) and their profiles will be posted on the Orthopedics This Week website (www.ryortho.com). Each winning company will be granted permission to post the profiles of their winning teams on their company websites and to distribute freely.