FABI was once again in the limelight at last night's 2013/14 NSTF-BHP Billiton gala dinner and awards ceremony. This amazing function, hosted by the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF), is often referred to as the South African Science "Oscars". Top Science and Technology leaders and captains of industry are acknowledged here for their contributions to science in this country. Prof Brenda Wingfield received one of the highly recognized awards for her an outstanding contribution to SET through research capacity development over the last 5 to 10 years.  Brenda is one of the 12 PhD-level leadership team of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and NRF/DST Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB)and has played a leading role in tree disease research and in building FABI. We congratulate Brenda, but also the other University of Pretoria winners, Professors Don Cowan, Wanda Markotter, and De Wet Swanepoel.

Read more on Brenda's award in today's Mail and Guardian or look at the complete list of winners in the NSTF-BHP Billiton Awards eNewsletter (attached).

Photo: Prof Wingfield with her trophy, together with Dr Steve Lennon (left), group executive of Eskom, and Minister Naledi Pandor of the Department Science and Technology (right).