Annual Prize for Psychological Research on Women and Gender by Students

The Society for the Psychology of Women (SPW) of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) jointly sponsor this award to celebrate outstanding student research that focuses on women’s lives and concerns, or more generally, on gender ideologies and behavior from a feminist perspective. 

A $250 prize will be awarded to the author of the best paper. First prize and honorable mention winners will be announced at the next meeting of the American Psychological Association and receive one-year free memberships to both SPW and AWP. Winners are also invited to present their award-winning paper at the upcoming AWP Conference and serve as reviewers for the next year’s award.

Jointly authored papers are eligible if the first author was a student at the time the research was conducted. Entries should be of journal length and in APA style. Eligible papers include unpublished manuscripts as well as papers that have been submitted or accepted for publication. Published papers are eligible if they were published during the current or previous year of the award. For example, published manuscripts for the 2015 award must have a publication date in 2014 or 2015.

Annual deadline: April 15

Submissions will be judged on feminist theoretical grounding, methodology, clarity, quality of writing and the social importance of the research questions and findings for a psychology of women and gender. Research papers that address intersectionalities will be given higher consideration.

Submission Material

1. Cover letter indicating that the first author was a student at the time the research was conducted, specifying when and from what institution the first author obtained the degree, the name of the faculty who supervised the research and the department of the supervising faculty.  
2. De-identified manuscript: Papers should be submitted in manuscript form, not as pre-prints or prints, in MS Word, with all identifying information removed. Include the title page, with author information removed. Name the file with a short version of the title, not with author or publication information. Information about authors as well as submission and publication status should be in the cover letter. If identifying information is included in the manuscript, it will not be reviewed.

Submission Procedure

Please email a cover letter and attach a copy of the paper (de-identified, in MS Word, short title used for the file name) to the chair, Rebekah Smart, by April 15, annually. Please put "AWP/SPW Annual Student Prize Submission" in the subject line. 

• 1st Place: Lauren Zubrügg 
• Honorable Mention: Jennifer Brady

2016

• 1st Place: Anjali Dutt 
• Honorable Mention: Carlie D. Trott

2015

• 1st Place: Nicole Jeffrey, BAS, MA, “He didn’t necessarily force himself upon me, but …”: Women’s Lived Experiences of Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships with Men
• Honorable Mention: Christopher R. DeCou, “An Ecological Process Model of Female Sex Offending”

2014

• 1st Place: Haley Miles-McLean, “Gender Microaggressions: Interpersonal Objectification as a Source of Insidious Trauma"
• Honorable Mention: Margo A. Gregor, “The Changing Face of Psychology: Leadership Aspirations of Female Doctoral Students in Counseling and Clinical Psychology” 

2013 

• 1st Place: Christin P. Bowman, “Female Masturbation: Understanding Experiences of Sexual Empowerment”
• Honorable Mention: Kathryn Holland, “When Sexism and Feminism Collide: The Sexual Harassment of Feminist Working Women”  

2012

• 1st Place: Sarah J. Reed, "Identity and Agency: The Meaning and Value of Pregnancy for Young Black Lesbians" 
• Honorable Mention: Megan R. Greeson, "Rape Survivors Agency within the Legal and Medical Systems"