Illuminate PitchFest is an initiative designed for early to mid-career researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia, to pitch their bold and innovative ideas in the hopes of securing an Illuminate Award, philanthropically supported by our donor community.
Launched in 2021 by the Hon Julie Bishop who was Chair of The Kids’ Board at the time, the Illuminate Awards have supported 21 early to mid-career researchers with more than $570,000 raised, helping accelerate research careers and fueling investment into child health research excellence here in Western Australia.
Through Illuminate PitchFest, we continue to create long-lasting impact with our philanthropic community, equipping our researchers with much-needed funding to transform their vision into ground-breaking advancements and help children live happy healthy lives.
See here for the Illuminate Award history.
Illuminate PitchFest 2025
We are excited to introduce ten new trailblazing researchers who will be taking to the stage this February to pitch their bold and innovative ideas to our philanthropic community.
Our ten early to mid-career researchers, identified through a rigorous and competitive internal selection process, are committed to discovering, preventing, and curing some of the most challenging and common childhood diseases and illnesses – including cancer, respiratory and infectious diseases, anti-microbial resistance, disability and mental health.
They each will have the opportunity to showcase and pitch their work in the hopes of securing a $25,000 Illuminate Award, generously funded by our supporters who share our vision of happy healthy kids.
Learn more about our 2025 finalists.
Supporting an Illuminate Award
The Illuminate Awards would simply not be possible without the support of our philanthropic community. If you’re interested in supporting an Award and attending an Illuminate PitchFest event, contributions start from $2,500 or you can support an Award in its entirety starting from $25,000. If you would like to donate or to learn more about Illuminate PitchFest, please email giving@thekids.org.au
And all donors attending the event get a chance to vote on the night!
See all the Illuminate news & events stories.
The Illuminate Award story
Illuminate Dinner of Discovery 2021
It was our former Chair the Hon Julie Bishop who created an Award for an early to mid-career female Researcher. This sparked the idea of creating the Illuminate Awards - to connect our donors with our amazing early to mid-career researchers and get to know them as they supported them on their journey.
In September 2021, the Institute’s Development Advisory Network (DAN), a volunteer committee supporting the Institute’s fundraising goals, hosted the inaugural Illuminate Dinner, a fundraising event designed to shine light on the child health research happening at The Kids. Through this event, the Illuminate Awards were born.
Illuminate PitchFest 2023
Ten researchers from different research areas took to the stage for the first ever Illuminate PitchFest in February 2023, to pitch their innovative research projects to 80 guests from our philanthropic community and a judging panel consisting of then Board Chair Hon Julie Bishop, the Giorgetta family, and host Professor Jane Pillow. A total of $150,000 was awarded to six early to mid-career researchers to support their research projects, generously funded by our community of donors.
Learn more about our 2023 Illuminate Award winners.
Illuminate PitchFest 2024
For the second year running, Illuminate PitchFest shined a light on the innovative, world-class research at The Kids, awarding a total of $235,000 to eight early to mid-career researchers for their ground-breaking research projects. With 90 guests and a judging panel of then Board Chair Hon Julie Bishop, the Woods, Giorgetta and Gubgub Wallace families.
