As chair of the Div. 44 Awards Committee this year, I first want to thank a great team that met to review, discuss and vote on the slate of nominees for all the different awards we have in our division. The team included Jeffrey Brown, Kimberly Balsam, Sharon Flicker, Eleanor McCabe, Stephen Forssell, Michelle Vaughan and Haley Hedrick.
I want to make special note of a new award, the Div. 44 Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award. The award was proposed by Div. 44 Past President Mira Jourdan during her presidential year, noting that some of our members have done so much for the division in ways that cover multiple areas honored by the traditional awards.
Armand Cerbone was recognized for his many contributions over years of involvement in our division and received the first ever Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award.
Distinguished Book Award
The division offers this award for a book that has made a significant contribution to the field of LGBT psychology. These works represent highly valuable contributions to scholarship that synthesize research and practice and advance the development of science, practice, and policy on LGBT issues in psychology.
The book we honor this year is Gender Identity, Sexuality and Autism: Voices From Across the Spectrum, by Eva A. Mendes and Meredith R. Maroney.
Distinguished Contribution to Education and Training
The division offers this award to colleagues who have made distinguished contributions to the interests, goals and purposes of Div. 44 in the area of education, either academic or public. Award winners typically have developed programs or curricula that raised the consciousness of the general public about LGBT issues, or that improved the quality of education and training in psychology at graduate and undergraduate levels.
The winners of this award represent individuals who have distinguished themselves in disseminating science and scholarship on LGBT issues. This year, we honor Kimberly Balsam, PhD.
Distinguished Scientific Contribution
The division offers this award for distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender psychological issues. The winners of this award have made far-reaching and visionary contributions to the development of a science of LGBT psychology and have provided the science base for practice, education and the development of public policy. Many of these award winners are pioneers who first asked affirmative research questions about the lives of LGBT people, their families and their communities.
This year, the winner is David Pantalone.
Distinguished Service Award
The division offers this award for distinguished contributions to Div. 44 through exceptional service. Award winners have a long history of being active contributors to the life of the division and are the lifeblood of this organization whose efforts we appreciate.
This year's winner is David Rivera.
Distinguished Contribution to Public Policy
The division offers this award for distinguished contributions to the interests, goals and purposes of Div. 44 in the area of public policy focused on sexual orientation and gender diversity liberation and/or equality. The winners of this award represent individuals who have distinguished themselves in their application of the science, professional practice standards, and/or ethics of psychology in their advocacy or activism to advance LGBTQ+ liberating or equalizing local, state, national or international public policies.
This year the awardee is Bianca Wilson.
Distinguished Professional Contribution Award
The division offers this award to recognize distinguished professional contributions advancing the interests, goals and purposes of Div. 44.
Winners of this award typically have developed models and paradigms for affirmative practice and have advanced the visibility of LGBT issues within the entire field of professional psychology.
We recognize the work of Amy Moors in creating a foundation for affirmative practice with consensually non-monogamous relationships.
Distinguished Student Contribution
The division offers this award to a graduate student in psychology who has made a distinguished contribution to research or practice, or who has performed exceptional service to the division. Winners of this award represent the future of this division and have taken leadership early in their careers to advance LGBT issues in psychology.
This year's recipient of the Distinguished Student Contribution award is Juan Pantoja-Patino.
Distinguished Contribution to Ethnic Minority Issues
The division offer this award for distinguished contributions to the interests, goals, and purposes of Div. 44 in the area of ethnic minority lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender psychology. The winners of this award have each studied and worked with the realities of LGBT people of color, locating scholarship and practice at this intersection of identities.
This year, we award the honor to Roberto Abreu.
Transgender Research Award
The Div. 44 Committee for Transgender People and Gender Diversity awards a $500 research award for psychological research that addresses transgender issues. The project may be completed within the past three years or in progress.
This year, the committee honors Em Matsuno.
Evelyn Hooker Award for Distinguished Contribution by an Ally
To acknowledge the ever-widening circle of people who support Div. 44's mission, the executive committee launched the Evelyn Hooker Award for Distinguished Contribution by an Ally in 2008. Evelyn Hooker, PhD, a recipient of the 1991 APA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest, championed research which has contributed to depathologizing, decriminalizing and destigmatizing people with minority sexual orientations. Hooker's legacy as an ally of people with sexual minority orientations has had a profound impact on all facets of LGBT psychology. In commemoration of her contribution, the division offers this award for distinguished contribution by an ally in the areas of research, clinical practice, education and training, public advocacy, mentorship and/or leadership.
This year, we honor Susan Kegeles.
Malyon-Smith Scholarship Award
The Malyon-Smith Scholarship is named for two founding past presidents of the division, the late Alan Malyon and the late Adrienne Smith. It is a fund that annually awards up to $1,000 to selected graduate students in psychology to advance research on sexual orientation and gender identity. The award represents one of the division's major efforts to mentor and support science in LGBT psychology by encouraging the work of young researchers.
This year, the award goes to Allison Schimmel-Bristow.
The Bisexual Foundation Scholarship Award
The Bisexual Foundation Scholarship is an annual fund awarding up to $1,000 per award to selected graduate students to advance research on the psychology of bisexuality. This award recognizes the growing importance of research on bisexuality to the field of LGBT issues in psychology and offers concrete support and encouragement to emerging scholars in this field.
The award goes to MaryBeth Grove.
In addition to our own division awards, the awards ceremony also includes the presentation of the APA Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity’s (CSOGD) Outstanding Achievement Award.
The CSOGD recognizes M. Paz Galupo as this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award.