STUDENT AWARDS
The deadline for all student awards in the 2024-25 cycle is December 15, 2024. Nominations should be sent to the appropriate committee chair (see award-specific guidelines). *Please put the award name in the subject line of the email submission.
1. Political Geography Student Travel Awards: these $225 awards will be given to support student travel to present a paper on a political geography topic at the PGSG preconference and/or the AAG Annual Meeting. Up to ten (10) awards may be awarded annually. Guidelines | click here
2. Alexander B. Murphy Dissertation Enhancement Award: this $1000 award is granted to support dissertation field research of PGSG student members. Up to two awards may be awarded annually. Guidelines | click here
3. Political Geography Graduate Student Paper Awards: this $250 award will go to the best paper on a political geography topic written by MA and PhD students (judged in separate divisions), who are PGSG members. Guidelines | click here
4. Political Geography Undergraduate Student Research Award: this $100 award will go to the best research paper or creative work informed by research on a political geography topic by an undergraduate student, regardless of membership in the AAG or participation at the Annual Meetings. NEW for 2023-24 cycle: Eligibility has been expanded to include creative projects. Guidelines | click here
PROFESSIONAL/NON-STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
The deadline for all non-student achievement awards in the 2024-25 cycle is December 15, 2024. Nominations should be sent to the PGSG President (Meredith DeBoom; deboom[at]mailbox.sc.edu). *Please put the award name in the subject line of the email submission.
1. Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award. This award will be given to the author(s) of the best book published during the previous calendar year in the field of political geography (i.e., at AAG 2025, the award will go to a book published in 2024). Nominations should include the citation information for the book and a single paragraph (max. 500 words) explanation of its subject, along with a link to the publisher’s website. Nominations from individual members and presses are permitted, however each press is limited to only one (1) nomination per year. With the exception of current PGSG Board members, self-nominations are permitted. *Special note for this cycle: Books published after the Dec. 15, 2024, deadline but before Jan. 1, 2025, should be included in this year’s cycle. If this presents a concern, please contact the PGSG President.
2. Virginie Mamadouh Outstanding Research Award. This award will be given to the author(s) of a journal article or book chapter published in the previous three (3) calendar years that makes an innovative, original contribution to the conceptual and/or methodological embrace of political geography. For journal articles the three-year window begins once the article is assigned to a specific print issue. Nominations should include only the citation information and a PDF of the article or chapter. Supplementary statements from the nominators are discouraged. With the exception of current PGSG Board members, self-nominations are permitted.
3. Stanley D. Brunn Early Career Scholar Award. This award will be given to a scholar who has received their Ph.D. within the past ten years, in honor of contributions that have generated new interest in the subfield and/or opened up new areas of inquiry for political geographic research. Nominations should include a paragraph (max. 500 words) describing the impact of the nominee’s work in political geography and more broadly, along with a link to the nominee’s institutional or personal website. Self-nominations are not permitted.
4. Richard Morrill Engagement Travel Award. In the spirit of Richard Morrill’s research on migration, race, social stratification and inequality, this $300 award will support travel to attend and participate in the annual PGSG Preconference. The goal of this award is to strengthen public engagement among PGSG members and foster a more diverse and inclusive PGSG community. This award will be given to an individual who has used their political geographic work to affect change (in the discipline of geography, public thought, or public policy). Nominations should include a paragraph (max. 500 words) describing the impact of the nominee’s scholarly or public work, along with a link to the nominee’s institutional or personal website.
General Information and Rules for non-student awards:
1. All non-student awards will be based on nominations made to the President of the PGSG, following the rules outlined above. All nominations are due to the PGSG President by the annual deadline. The President will then disseminate the appropriate materials of the compliant nominations to the Board members, who will vote at least three (3) weeks prior to the Annual Meeting.
2. For each award category, a maximum of one award will be conferred each year, with the announcement to be made at the PGSG Business Meeting taking place the next Spring. For each award category, if there are no nominees whom the Board views as deserving of merit, no award will be made. Special recognition may be noted in rare circumstances.
3. The PGSG Board reserves the right to determine whether a nominee (or a nominated publication) falls within the scope of political geography.
4. Nominations by board members are permitted (excluding the specific prohibitions on self-nominations noted above). Nominations of board members are permitted. In this case, the board member will be recused from the vote.
5. Awardees need not be PGSG or AAG members, although awardees are strongly encouraged to join both groups if they are not already members.
6. The results of the competitions will be announced to the winners just prior to the AAG Annual Meeting. The awards will be formally announced at the PGSG Business Meeting. The awardees’ names and titles will be forwarded to the AAG.