Who Are We?

 The Society of Policy Scientists announces its annual prize competitions for the best policy sciences books, published articles, chapters in books, and student papers. The Society generally awards two prizes for published works, each of which includes a $500.00 cash award. These awards are named for Harold D. Lasswell and Myres S. McDougal, the founders of the policy sciences. The Society also bestows prizes for student papers, one for graduate students and one for undergraduates. Student papers can be unpublished. Student prizes include a $250.00 cash award. All four prizes are slated to be awarded during the 2023 Annual Policy Sciences Institute. Awardees will be asked to present their prize-winning entry at the Institute. 

The nominations will be evaluated based on their exemplary use or advancement of ideas, concepts, and/or methods from the policy sciences. Nominated submissions must represent and/or contribute to an understanding of the problem orientation, social process, decision process, contextuality, and/or using multiple methods for the policy sciences. Further, submissions can reflect excellence in discussing the history, legacy, and future of the policy sciences. However, submissions are not restricted to language associated with classic works of the policy sciences. 

For the Lasswell and McDougal Prizes, preference will be given to untenured professors and early career researchers or practitioners who have completed their formal education within the past seven years. For all competitions, the Society will permit nominations of works with senior faculty/experts as co-authors as long as the lead author is eligible for the prizes. Works published in 2021 through 2023 are eligible for consideration, as are student papers written in these years. 

In addition to the cash prizes, the registration fee for the Annual Institute will be waived for prize winners, and awardees who are members of the Society of Policy Scientists will have their Society dues waived for the following year (Awardees who are members of the Society will still receive a one-year subscription to the journal, Policy Sciences). Awardees are expected to reflect on their winning submissions at the Annual Institute. 

To nominate your own work, or works of others, assuming that they consent to have their works considered, please send your nominations to Evan Andrews at evana@mun.ca, by June 30, 2023. For submissions other than books, please attach the publications electronically. For books, the prize committee will request copies from the publisher. No cover page is needed in addition to a brief introduction of the nomination through e-mail. Any cover page will not be considered in the evaluation of the submission.