Awards Overview

Theory Prize

The Theory Prize is given to recognize outstanding work in theory.In even-numbered years, it is given to a book, and in odd-numbered years, to a paper; in both cases, eligible items are those published in the preceding four calendar years. Please send preliminary nominations to the Committee Chair, with copies to all Committee members. Formal nominations, together with the nominated books, must subsequently be sent to all Committee members.

Best Student Paper Award

The Best Student Paper Award recognizes distinguished work in the theory area by a graduate student. Work may take the form of (a) a paper published or accepted for publication; (b) a paper presented at a professional meeting; of (c) a paper suitable for publication or presentation at a professional meeting. Only papers authored by graduate students are eligible, i.e. no papers co-authored with faculty.  Each year's selection committee has latitude in determining procedures for selecting the winner, including the option of awarding no prize if suitable work has not been nominated. This year the Best Student Paper Award includes an award of $750.00 for reimbursement of travel expenses for attending the annual ASA meeting.   Please submit the article electronically to the committee members at the email addresses below. Self-nominations are welcome.  (Formerly Shils-Coleman)

LEWIS COSER AWard

The ASA Theory Section gives an annual award called the Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda Setting. This prize is intended to recognize a mid-career sociologist whose work holds great promise for setting the agenda in the field of sociology. While the award winner need not be a theorist, her or his work must exemplify the sociological ideals that Lewis Coser represented. Eligible candidates must be sociologists or do work that is of crucial importance to sociology. They must have received a Ph.D. no less than five and no more than twenty years before their candidacy. Nomination letters should make a strong substantive case for the nominee's selection and should discuss the nominee's work and his or her anticipated future trajectory. No self-nominations are allowed. After nomination, the Committee will solicit additional information from nominees and others for those candidates they consider appropriate for consideration, including published works and at least two additional letters of support from third parties. The Committee may decide in any given year that no nominee warrants the award, in which case it will not be awarded that year. 

Junior theorist award

The Junior Theorist Award honors the best paper each year submitted by an early-career sociologist. Self-nominations are invited by scholars who have received the Ph.D. but who, at the time of nomination are not more than eight years beyond the calendar year in which the Ph.D. was granted. Nominations should consist of one article written or published in the 12 months preceding the nominations deadline and a letter explaining how the paper advances sociological theorizing. The winner will present a keynote address at the Junior Theory Symposium the year after the award is given.