Our development sees the addition of two new awards to the VWDA Leadership Award, inaugurated a few years ago to honour a female Victorian dentist for her contribution to leadership within the community. These awards fulfil the aims of the VWDA, which are:

> to provide a network to encourage, support and empower women dentists in the profession of dentistry; 
> to promote the advancement and exchange of knowledge; 
> to promote leadership and encourage mentoring within the profession; 
> to provide a voice for the growing number of women dentists in the profession.

The new awards, which have been developed by Dr Pamela Dalgliesh with input from VWDA committee members, are:

(1) Outstanding Female Candidate in the ADC Final Clinical Examination 2004. This award seeks to encourage, empower and support a female dentist coming into our community from a different place and background. The $500 scholarship is to be put towards attendance at continuing professional development, and the recipient will also gain one year's free membership of the VWDA, including attendance at all lecture meetings.

(2) Special Needs Dentistry Conference Scholarship. This award, which is open to both male and female dentists, seeks to promote an area of increasing need as demonstrated by the recent establishment of Special Needs Dentistry as a registered speciality. The $500 scholarship is also to be put towards attending continuing professional development.

The recipients of these awards will be required to make a presentation to VWDA or, in the case of the ADC award, write an article for the newsletter.

We take much pride in the establishment of these awards and in the development of the 2005-06 program, which we trust will capture your interest. I encourage you to come and join with me in witnessing the growth and development of people and ideas at our meetings, and indeed to join the VWDA.

Dr. Ruth N. Paluch
VWDA President
ruthpaluch@hotmail.com