The Nature awards for creative mentoring in science were created on the premise that the mentorship of young researchers-although fully deserving of recognition-is perhaps the least remarked on of all the activities that take place in the lab. Indeed, there is no established definition of what constitutes good scientific mentoring. This article attempts to remedy that situation, drawing on the evidence from competitions for Nature's awards. These are held on a national or regional basis, with the most recent taking place last year, when the focus was on Australasia. Previous competitions have been held in the United Kingdom, and the next competition will be in South Africa (see www.nature.com/nature/ mentoringawards/southafrica/index.html).

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