E.W. "Al" Thrasher Awards focus on projects that are changing pediatric clinical care. Each award is a novel approach to problems plaguing pediatrics. The award is open to applications focusing on any disease or topic within the umbrella of pediatrics, both in and outside the United States.  

Ideal applications for the Thrasher Award address significant health problems, offering the potential for practical solutions to these problems. Typically, the primary outcome is a health outcome in children. Solutions should be innovative and have the potential for broad applicability with low barriers to implementation. Projects with a shorter distance to clinical applicability are given priority.​ Hypothesis-driven research is critical, exploratory, or hypothesis-generating research will not be competitive. 

For projects focused on improving disease diagnosis, please ensure that there are well researched, effective treatment options available to patients upon diagnosis.