APS Janet Taylor Spence Award Nominations

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Nominations will open in mid-2024.

Deadline for the 2024 Awards: October 1, 2023

Nominees must be members of the Association for Psychological Science and may be employed in academia or another employment sector. Nominees must have completed their PhD within eight years of the date of the annual meeting at which the award would be conferred. (Nominees for the 2024 award should have received their PhDs no earlier than 2016.) Extensions will be considered for nominees who have taken time away from research for reasons such as medical, disability, family care, natural disasters, active duty military service, and complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nomination materials should include information supporting the need for an extension. The award committee will consider extension requests on a case-by-case basis as the nominations are evaluated. Prior approval for an extension is not necessary.

Research contributions can be transformative in various ways, such as the establishment of new approaches or paradigms within a field of psychology, or the development or advancement of research that cuts across fields of psychological science. The common thread is that Award recipients should reflect the best of the many new and cutting edge ideas coming out of our most creative and promising investigators who, together, embody the future of psychological science.

Letters of nomination and support should specifically address the nominee’s work with respect to the following selection criteria: (1) is the research novel and creative? (2) does the research have the potential to change how we think about psychological science? (3) is the research characterized by rigorous and innovative scientific methods? (4) does the research build upon existing psychological science in scholarly ways? (5) is the research influencing multiple fields of psychological science?

To nominate a candidate for the APS Janet Taylor Spence Award, please include the following materials:

  • Electronic Letter of Nomination no more than 2 pages in length specifically addressing the selection criteria listed above
  • Complete electronic curriculum vitae of the candidate. (PDF preferred)
  • PDF’s of the nominee’s work indicating the most important contributions to psychological science (not more than 10 papers) 
  • Two additional letters of recommendation no more than 2 pages in length (Three total letters should be submitted: one letter of nomination and two letters of support.)

Please consider the diverse and international nature of our field in nominating colleagues. Nominations of members of underrepresented groups in psychological science are encouraged.

Questions? Email awards@psychologicalscience.org.