NCSA 2026 President’s Award Paper Competition Guidelines

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

Guidelines for the North Central Sociological Association’s annual President’s Award paper competition for undergraduate students. The competition is open to students at 2-year and 4-year institutions, with up to three awards, division certificates, and a $150 undergraduate cash award at the annual meeting. Submissions must be Word documents, include an abstract of up to 100 words, follow ASA formatting, meet a 6,000-word maximum, and be submitted through the online portal by January 5, 2026.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Eligibility and Awards

Paper Requirements and Formatting

Submission Process and Deadline

Review Criteria and Contact

The North Central Sociological Association is pleased to announce its annual paper competition for all undergraduate students. The President’s Award competition is open to all undergraduate students studying at 2-year and 4-year colleges, universities, or community colleges. ● Up to three awards will be given. ● Division winners will receive a certificate in recognition of their award. ● Undergraduate division winners will receive a cash award of $150 from the NCSA at the annual meeting. ● Co-authored or multiple authored winners will share the specified monetary award. ● All award winners will be honored at a special time during the annual meeting of the NCSA. ● The maximum length of a paper is 6,000 words (approximately 18-20 pages) . An abstract of no more than 100 words must also be included. The word count excludes the abstract, tables, figures, references, and appendices. Papers exceeding the word count will be disqualified from competition. ● The title page must include the author's name, institutional affiliation, divisional status (graduate or undergraduate), email address, and the name, address, and telephone number of the student's advisor/mentor. After the title page, no additional pages of the paper should include the author's name, advisor's name, or any school affiliation. Pages should be numbered. ● Students are encouraged to follow American Sociological Association (ASA) formatting and citation styles. ● PLEASE BE AWARE THAT only papers written by author(s) currently enrolled as undergraduate students or those who completed their undergraduate degree in December 2025 are eligible for consideration. Papers with multiple authors will be considered provided that all authors meet these criteria. ● If a student is resubmitting a paper that has been previously submitted at NCSA, they should note that the same presentation should not be given twice. The resubmitted papers should include significant changes and focus on a different component or different analyses within the project ● Applicants must submit a Word document. The submitting author may be contacted via email to provide an additional copy that can be edited, or for questions. ● The Word document should be named following this example: Jennifer Smith, an undergraduate student, from Big State University → JSmith_BSU_UG ● To be considered for competition, all research papers must be made via the online submission portal at Competition Submission Link ● As a security feature for submitting to the competition, you will need to ‘sign in’ to the submission form. You will be able to use any email address and the password of your choosing. As this is a Google form, if you have a Gmail or Google account – use that email address for ease of use. However, you DO NOT need to have a Gmail account. Creating a simple Google account is as easy as using the email address of your choice and creating a password. We suggest you create the account using an email address you check often so you will be able to respond to requests for additional information and/or receive notifications regarding your submission. If you have questions regarding creating an account, contact Melinda Messineo, NCSA, [mmessine@bsu.edu](mmessine@bsu.edu) ● Undergraduates are encouraged but it is not mandatory to submit a presentation version of their competition submission on the regular conference program. Students who wish to present their papers may do so here. Presentations will be incorporated into an undergraduate session. A panel of judges will blind review papers. The judges will employ conventional scholarly criteria--including thesis development, theoretical application, methodological application, discussion/findings, and mechanics (e.g., grammar, spelling, consistent formatting/citation style, etc.) --in their deliberations. The awards committee reserves the right not to award any or all prizes in a division should papers not be of sufficient quality or of

FAQs

Who is eligible to submit papers for the President’s Award competition?

The competition accepts undergraduate students at 2-year and 4-year colleges, universities, or community colleges, including those who completed their undergraduate degree in December 2025. Papers with multiple authors are allowed only if all authors meet these criteria.

What are the key requirements for the paper length and abstract?

The maximum paper length is 6,000 words, and the word count excludes the abstract, tables, figures, references, and appendices. An abstract of no more than 100 words must be included, and papers exceeding the limit are disqualified.

How must applicants submit their research and when is the deadline?

Applicants must submit a Word document through the online submission portal and sign in to the submission form. Full papers are due no later than January 5, 2026.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi