Odum Awards for Undergraduate and Graduate Papers

Are you working with a student who has written an outstanding paper? Consider nominating the student for the Odum Award, which caries a cash prize of $100 and up to an additional $200 toward expenses of attendance at the SSS meeting. The Odum Award recognizes outstanding research papers by undergraduates and graduates in the southern region or by students outside the region whose work is mentored by current SSS members. One annual award may be given each year for the best undergraduate paper and best graduate paper submitted on any sociological topic.

Eligibility: The paper must have only one author and conform to the style guidelines and length conventions of Social Forces. The student author need not be a member of the SSS. It is expected that the author will not have presented the paper at another professional meeting. Papers will be judged on the basis of originality, clarity of exposition, conceptualization and analysis. Faculty are asked to nominate no more than one student paper in each category per year. Students who have gone on to graduate or professional school are eligible for the undergraduate paper award if the paper was written when they were enrolled in an undergraduate degree program.

Authors of the Odum award-winning papers are expected to attend the SSS Annual Meeting to receive their award. Students are expected to present their papers at the annual meeting. If the winning paper had not previously been submitted and accepted for presentation at the time the committee makes its award decision, the paper will be added to the program.

Nominating Procedure for Undergraduate Papers: The undergraduate papers should be submitted by a member of the SSS who attests that the author meets the conditions of eligibility.

Nominating Procedure for Graduate Papers: Graduate students may submit their own papers. Their submission should come with the endorsement of a member of their graduate institution’s faculty who is a member of the SSS and who attests that the author is a student in good standing.

Nominations must be submitted by January 15; email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.

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