NASPSPA - North American Society for Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity

North American Society for Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity.

Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award

Purpose
To recognize outstanding achievement of scholars who are still in the early stage of their scientific careers.

Eligibility

Current members of NASPSPA who possess a distinguished early record of scholarship and who received the doctorate no more than eight years prior to the year of nomination. To help clarify this latter criterion, the year of nomination is the calendar year in which the nomination is submitted. Hence, if the candidate is being nominated in the calendar year 2020 (for receipt of the award in 2021), they must have received their doctorate no earlier than the calendar year 2012 (2021-2012+1=8 years). Eligibility may be extended in special circumstances with appropriate documentation submitted by the nominee to the President.

Nature of the Award

The year following the announcement of the award, the recipient of the award must make a presentation at a general session at the conference to summarize their research activity. Recipients will be given a $1,000 honorarium, a one-time NASPSPA conference registration fee waiver, and a certificate of award. The cash award and certificate will be given following the recipient’s presentation. The honorarium will be paid by the secretary/treasurer either by check or PayPal. The abstract of this presentation will be published in the Annual Conference abstracts.

Method of Selection

  1. The selection of an appropriate individual will be the responsibility of the Selection Committee of NASPSPA (see Distinguished Scholar Award for a description of committee membership).
  2. An announcement requesting nominations will be made in the Fall Newsletter. Nominations will be made to the Executive Director as a single PDF file by the date specified in that newsletter. The Communication Director will be responsible to send a reminder to the membership concerning this award four weeks prior to the December 1st deadline. Nominations may be made by any NASPSPA member and should detail the nominee’s qualifications for the award.
  3. Nominators for each candidate will submit:
    1. a curriculum vitae.
    2. A nomination letter consisting of a1 to 3-page summary of the nominee’s work, emphasizing the basic theoretical approach, impact, and importance.
    3. 3 to 5 publications.
    4. Recommendation letters from 2 individuals (these letters are in addition to the nomination letter, and should come from individuals other than the person writing the nomination letter)
  1. In all cases, the nomination(s) should be kept in strictest confidence.
  2. The Selection Committee will select the award recipient after reviewing the nominees’ credentials and qualifications no later than three months prior to the start of the Annual Conference. A simple majority vote is necessary for a recipient to be named. The President will notify the nominee and the Executive Director.
  3. Should there be any nominees from the previous years that remain eligible, the President will ask nominators when they are notifying them of the results of the award selection if they would like to nominate the candidate again. An updated curriculum vitae for all eligible nominees will be requested.

Criteria for Selection

The recipient of the award should possess a record of scholarship that clearly establishes the recipient as a leading scholar among scientists at similar career stages. Evidence for this distinction might include the innovation of the person’s work, the impact the work has had on the field of research, or the impact the work has had on the application of knowledge. Productivity by itself does not necessarily lead to a distinguished record. Most important of all is that the record of scholarship has been subjected to the critical review of established scholars in the individual’s area of scholarship. In all cases the collected works of the individual should demonstrate excellence in scholarship. Finally, the individual must have been an active contributor to NASPSPA.

Additional Guidelines

  1. Anyone submitting a nomination or writing a letter of support for a candidate is disqualified from serving on the Selection Committee.
  2. No member of the Selection Committee may be from the same institution as a nominee, have been the doctoral advisor or advisee of a nominee, or have any other close association that could be interpreted to constitute a conflict of interest.
  3. If either of the above two restrictions applies to the President (who serves as chair of the Selection Committee), they will refuse to exercise the right to vote in the selection, and the Past-President will replace them on the committee.
  4. Other letters of recommendation may be solicited as necessary by the President or the Selection Committee.