Discover the 2023 APSA Award winners.

APSA is pleased to announce the winners for the 2023 APSA Awards! APSA recognizes and honors The awards recognize the outstanding contributions of scholars to research, teaching and service in political science. The awards will be presented at the APSA Awards Ceremony during the 119th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Los Angeles, California.

DISSERTATION AWARDS

Gabriel A. Almond Award For the best dissertation in comparative politics

Recipient: Nichola K. Kuipers University of California Berkeley
Title: “Meritocracy Reconsidered: The Politics of Civil Service Recruitment”

William Anderson Award For the best dissertation on federalism and intergovernmental relations in general, as well as state and local politics

Recipient: Bhumi Purohit University of California, Berkeley
Title: “Laments of Getting Things Done: Bureaucratic Resistance Against Female Politicians in India”

Edward S. Corwin Awards The prize for the best dissertation on public law

Recipient: Sam Hayes of Boston College
Title: “Courtroom Cartography: How Federal Court Redistricting Has Shaped American Democracy from Baker to Rucho”

Harold D. Lasswell award For the best dissertation in public policy

Recipient: Michael Lerner University of Michigan
Title: “Green Catalysts? The Impact of Transnational Advocacy on Environmental Policy Leadership”

E.E. Schattschneider Award For the best dissertation in American government

RecipientRachel Porter University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title: “Some Politics Are Still Local: Strategic Position Taking in Congress & Elections”

Kenneth Sherrill Prize For the best dissertation proposals for empirical studies of LGBT topics in Political Science

Recipient: Rachel O’Neal University of Colorado Boulder
Title: “Hetero-cis-normativity”

Leo Strauss Award For the best dissertation in political philosophy

Co-recipient: Sara Hassani New School for Social Research
Title: “Cloistered Infernos: The Politics of Self-Immolation in the Persian Belt”
Co-recipient: Nazli konya, Cornell University
Title: “The Inappropriable People of Gezi: Refusal, Protest, Desire”

Merze Tate Award For the best dissertation in International Relations, Law, and Politics

Recipient: D.G. Kim, University of California San Diego
Title: “Anti-Asian Racism and the Racial Politics of U.S.-China Great Power Rivalry”

Leonard D. White Awards The award is given for the best dissertation on public administration.

Recipient: Kaylyn Jackson Schiff Emory University
Title: “The Digital Citizen: The Impact of Technology on Public Participation and Government Responsiveness”

PAPER, ARTICLE & POSTER AWARDS

Best Poster Award – APSA The best poster by a graduate or early career scholar presented at the APSA Annual Conference the previous year.

Recipient: Meiqing Zhang University of Southern California
Title: “Moralized Social Media in the 2020 Presidential Election”

Franklin L. Burdette/Pi Sigma Alpha Award The award is given to the author of the best paper that was presented at the APSA Annual Meeting the previous year.

Recipient: Shengqiao LIN, University of Texas at Austin
Title: “Addressing Risk by Doing Good: Business Responses to Policy Initiatives”

Heinz I. Eulau Award The award for the best article published by the American Political Science Review The following are some examples of how to get started: Perspectives on politics The previous calendar year

Recipient (APSR): Agustina Pagayan, University of California San Diego
Title: “Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building.” Volume 116, Issue 4
Recipients (PoP): Jamilla Michener from Cornell University, Mallory SoRelle of Duke University, and Chloe Thurston from Northwestern University
Title: “From the Margins to the Center: A Bottom-Up Approach to Welfare State Scholarship.” Volume 20, Issue 1

Book Awards

Merze Tate – Elinor Ostrom Outstanding Book Award Best book on international affairs, government or politics

Recipient: Jacob Grumbach University of Washington
Title: Laboratories against Democracy. How national parties transformed state politics (Princeton University Press).

Ralph J. Bunche Award The award is given for the best work of political science that examines the phenomenon ethnic and cultural plurality

Recipient: Sally A. Nuamah Northwestern University
Title: Closed for Democracy – How mass school closures undermine the citizenship of Black Americans Cambridge University Press

Robert A. Dahl Award For an unemployed scholar who has produced scholarship on democracy of the highest standard

Recipient: Aram Hur University of Missouri
Title: Narratives on Civic Duty: How national stories shape democracy in Asia Cornell University Press

Gladys M. Kammerer Award For the best book published in the U.S. national security field during the previous calendar years

Recipient: R. Douglas Arnold, Princeton University
Title: Fixing Social Security – The Politics of Reform In A Polarized Age (Princeton Universary Press,)

Benjamin E. Lippincott Award For exceptional work by an active political theorist whose original publication has been at least 15 years ago. The work is still considered important after this time period.

Recipient: Joan Tronto University of Minnesota
Title: Moral Boundaries: An Argument for Care as a Political Ethics (Routledge)

Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award For the best first book, in any field of politics, that has the potential to have a substantial impact on the discipline.

Recipient: Fiona Shen Bayh, The College of William and Mary
Title: Unfair Process: Persecution & Punishment In Autocratic courts Cambridge University Press

Victoria Schuck Award For the best book published about women and politics

Recipient: Ke Li is a student at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of City University of New York
Title: Marriage Unbound – State Law, Power and Inequality today (Stanford University Press).

CAREER AWARDS

APSA Community College Teacher Award A community college faculty member who excels in teaching, mentoring and community engagement as well as governance or research.

Recipient: Anne Gillman American River College

APSA Distinguished Award For Civic and Community Engagement For significant civic engagement or community involvement activity by a Political Scientist that combines knowledge and practices and has a positive impact outside of their profession or academia

Recipient: Rebecca Glazier University of Arkansas at Little Rock

APSA Distinguished Teaching Award For outstanding contributions to undergraduate or graduate teaching in political science at two-year or four-year institutions

Recipient: M. Brielle Harbin, United States Naval Academy

John Gaus Award A career of exemplary scholarship within the joint tradition between political science, public administration and social sciences

Recipient: Daniel Carpenter, Harvard University

James Madison Award For an American Political Scientist who has made a distinguished academic contribution to the field of politics.

Recipient: Theda Skovocpol, Harvard University

Frank J. Goodnow award Teachers, researchers and public servants in many different fields of politics who have served the community by serving as political scientists

Recipient: Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Ohio State University

Hubert H. Humphrey Award A political scientist is recognized for a notable contribution to the public good.

Recipient: Victor Cha, Georgetown University

Carey McWilliams award For a major contribution of journalism to our understanding politics

Recipient: Steve Lopez The Los Angeles Times

Barbara Sinclair Lecture For achievements in promoting a greater understanding of U.S. Congress politics and legislation

Recipient: Steven S. Smith Washington University, St. Louis

Hanes Walton Jr. Award Awarded to a distinguished political scientist who has contributed significantly to our understanding of race and ethnic politics, and illuminates conditions that allow diversity and intergroup harmony in democratic societies.

Recipient: Vincent Hutchings University of Michigan

APSA International Partnerships Award Political scientists who are engaged in productive and collaborative cross-national partnerships, which make a significant contribution in the disciplines of teaching, research or civic engagement

Recipients: Dr Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan from the University of South Florida and Larisa Pattis, Free University of Moldova