The Councils of ERA-EDTA, ESPN and ISN decided to award a total of 210 grants for applicants who had not reached the age of 40 by December 31,2003. Of these, 120 grants of $1000 each plus free registration have been distributed through the ISN for applicants from outside Europe or past and present ISN fellows, 60 grants of € 500 each plus free registration have been distributed through the ERA-EDTA for applicants from Europe, 30 grants of € 500 each plus free registration have been distributed through the ESPN for applicants from Europe who have submitted an abstract to any of the paediatric subject headings.
Additional grants were available for participants from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, co-sponsored by the Deutsche Nierenstiftung and the GfN.

The WCN 2003 has given a total of 30 awards to the 6 best abstracts of each category named below. The Paper Selection Committee identified, based on the mean abstract score, the 6 best abstracts in the following categories:
·Basic Sciences
·Clinical Nephrology
·Dialysis
·Transplantation
·Paediatric Nephrology

All winners received:
·Free Congress Registration
·A voucher for € 750
·A diploma

In addition, during the congress, the 30 best posters have been selected by the Paper Selection Committee and received an award of € 500 plus a diploma.