Five hundred students received the award each year, which consisted of a certificate and cash prize.
[3] Each State and Territory Minister for Education nominated a number of students (according to the state or territory's proportion of year 12 students) for the prize each year.
Medallists from Australia's teams in the International Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics Olympiads also received the Australian Student Prize.
Prize winners were announced in the year following their completion of high school, generally in June.
Names were printed in various newspapers across Australia, and were posted on the prize's website, where a list of past winners is still available.