Awards and Honors bestowed by the Southern Sociological Society shall be given to recognize high distinction in the practice of sociology, however it may be expressed. The Society bestows the following awards: Roll of Honor, Odum Student Paper Award (undergraduate and graduate level), Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award, Distinguished Lectureship Award, Charles S. Johnson Award, Katharine Jocher-Belle Boone Beard Award, The Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award, Charles Gomilion-Joseph Sandy Himes Award, Junior Scholar Award. You can find descriptions, nominations procedures, and recent/past winners below. To view a list of previous award winners, click here.
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact the Chair of SSS Committee on Honors. All nominations materials should be sent to the SSS Executive Office.
Roll of Honor
Description
The greatest recognition given by the Southern Sociological Society is an appointment to the Roll of Honor. This award recognizes a career of distinguished intellectual contribution to Sociology. Awardees must be members of the Southern Sociological Society (or whose significant contributions to Sociology were made while a member of SSS) and have made stellar contributions to the discipline across their career.
Nomination Procedure
(a) Nominations for the Roll of Honor may be submitted by any member of the Society to the chairperson of the Honors Committee.
(b) At least five letters of nomination, the majority being from current members, shall be received and reviewed by the Honors Committee. These letters should address the purpose and qualifications stated above and should be accompanied by supporting documentation. The letters of nomination will be presented to the honoree when the award is made.
(c) Nominations may be made at any time during the year. To be considered for an award to be made at the next meeting of the Society, they must be complete by December 1.
Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office.
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Odum Student Paper Award
Description
The Odum Award recognizes outstanding research papers by undergraduates and graduates. Undergraduates must be nominated by a current member of SSS, and graduate students must be current members of SSS. One annual award may be given each year for the best undergraduate paper and best graduate paper submitted on any sociological topic. The Odum Award carries a cash prize of $100 and up to an additional $200 toward expenses of attending the SSS meeting.
Nomination Procedure
To nominate undergraduate or graduate student papers for the Odum Award, first consider eligibility.
Eligible papers can have one or more author(s) and conform to the style guidelines and length conventions of Social Currents. Papers will be judged on originality, clarity, conceptualization, and analysis. Faculty are asked to nominate no more than one student paper in each category per year.
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(s) meet the conditions of eligibility.
Nominating Procedure for Graduate Papers
Graduate students may submit their own papers if they are current members of SSS. Their submission must come with a statement from a member of their graduate institution’s faculty who attests that the author(s) are in good standing. Graduate students must provide some evidence that they are a current graduate student.
Nominations must be submitted by December 31 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award
Description
The purpose of this award is to honor individuals, departments, schools, institutions, or other collective actors for their outstanding contributions to the teaching of sociology at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. The award may recognize contributions over the course of a career, over the history of a program, or for a specific project or projects.
Teaching is broadly defined to include: classroom instruction, curriculum design, directing and mentoring students, developing instructional materials, producing educational films or videos, creating educational software or web sites, writing or editing textbooks or teacher manuals, conducting workshops on pedagogy, training student teachers, and publishing teaching-related research.
Recipients of the award are expected to have excelled in one or more of these areas, and have a minimum of five years teaching experience (or be a program that has been in existence for at least five years). This is not an award simply for being an outstanding classroom teacher at one’s own institution, but is intended to honor individuals or collective actors whose contributions, though they may result from classroom teaching, go beyond their institutions to benefit the discipline as a whole.
Award recipients may organize a session at the annual meeting.
Nomination Procedure
Nominations should include: 1) the name(s) and address(es) of the nominee; 2) three letters of recommendation (one of which is from the nominator) explaining how the nominee has excelled in the teaching of sociology; 3) the nominee’s curriculum vitae or, in the case of collective actors, program description, which includes a list of activities that fall under the areas above; and 4) relevant supporting materials (syllabi, student evaluations, textbooks, manuals, and any other evidence that demonstrate contributions to the teaching of sociology). Nominees may also independently send supporting materials. Both the nominee and the nominator must be members of the Southern Sociological Society.
Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Distinguished Lectureship Award
Description
A new award, the Southern Sociological Society Distinguished Lectureship Award, may be awarded annually to a member of the Southern Sociological Society in recognition of his/her excellence as a scholar and lecturer. This award has three key goals. First, it allows the Society to honor one of its distinguished scholar/teachers in a public manner. Second, it allows SSS to provide a much-needed resource to departments that typically lack the resources to bring distinguished scholars to their campuses. Third, it serves to promote SSS.
Criteria
First, the nominee must be a distinguished scholar who is recognized as having made a significant contribution to the discipline through major publications. Second, evidence must be provided which demonstrates that the nominee is an excellent lecturer. The honoree, who receives an award of $500 and the honorific title of Southern Sociological Society Distinguished Lecturer for the year awarded, must commit to giving a minimum of two public lectures at SSS region colleges/universities in that year. As with similar awards, the location of the lectures will be chosen on a competitive basis by a selection committee; institutions with fewer resources will be given priority. Ideally, expenses will be shared by institutions and SSS. The latter will help support the lecture series by contributing up to $2,000 to subsidize travel and other expenses. The honoree may also deliver a lecture in a special session dedicated to that end at the SSS annual meeting in the year following his/her designation.
Nomination Procedure
Any member of the SSS may submit a nomination but self-nominations are not accepted. The nominee must be a member of SSS. The primary nominator should submit a packet of materials including several letters endorsing the nomination (the majority of them from current SSS members), the nominee’s curriculum vitae, particular publications and evidence of excellence in teaching (student evaluations, syllabi and other supporting documentation).
Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Charles S. Johnson Award
Description
The Charles S. Johnson Award is given by the SSS to an individual in recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions on race and the South. The award honors a significant career of professional achievements. Award recipients may organize a session at the annual meeting.
Nomination Procedure
Any member of the SSS may submit a nomination but self-nominations are not accepted. The primary nominator should submit a package including several letters endorsing the nomination (the majority of them from current SSS members), the nominee’s curriculum vitae, particular publications and/or other supporting documentation.
Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Katharine Jocher-Belle Boone Beard Award
Description
This award recognizes distinguished scholarly contributions to the understanding of gender and society. The award honors a significant career of professional achievements. Award recipients may organize a session at the annual meeting.
Nomination Procedure
Any member of the SSS may submit a nomination but self-nominations are not accepted. The nominee must be a member of SSS. The primary nominator should submit a packet of materials including several letters endorsing the nomination (the majority of them from current SSS members), the nominee’s curriculum vitae, particular publications and other supporting documentation.
Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
The Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award
Description
The Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award honors outstanding service to the Southern Sociological Society by recognizing those members who have made exemplary contributions to the Southern Sociological Society through direct service over a lifetime or significant portion of their professional careers.
Contributions of recipients should have been vital in fulfilling the Society’s mission and sustaining its annual meetings. Their record may include serving in major fiduciary and organizational leadership roles, either as an officer or chair/member of committees, or as a program chair, session organizer, discussant, etc.; or it may involve providing leadership for innovative changes in the organization and functioning of the Society, in building the Society’s membership, or in other ways.
Recipients of this award are expected to have been members of the Society for a considerable portion of their careers.
Nomination Procedure
Nominations should include: 1) the name and address of the nominee; 2) three letters of recommendation (one of which is from the nominator) highlighting the nominee’s service to the Southern Sociological Society; 3) the nominee’s curriculum vitae; 4) relevant supporting documents illustrating contributions to service. Both the nominators and the recipient must be members of the Southern Sociological Society. This award need not be presented annually but will be offered in years when the Honors Committee determines that a nominee truly merits this recognition. Nominations must be submitted by December 1 to the Executive Office
Email nominations, including electronic versions of supplementary materials, are preferred.
Charles Gomillion-Joseph Sandy Himes Award
Description
This award is given to an individual for a career of distinguished sociological practice through service and teaching or research at a minority serving institution or through work in civic organizations that contribute to a better understanding of the sociology of race and a better functioning of citizens in society. The award carries a $500 honorarium.
Nomination Procedure
Candidates for the award may be nominated by a member of the SSS, or may self-nominate. Applicants must be current or retired faculty members who worked at a minority serving institution1 for the entirety or substantial portion of their career. Application packets should include a curriculum vita, a statement indicating qualification for the award, and three reference letters two of which must be from current or former members of the SSS. Applications for the award are due Dec. 1 to the Executive Office
1A minority serving institution is defined by the United States Department of Education as a 1) Historically Black College or University (HBCU); 2) Black Serving Institution (Schools where at least 25% of the student body is comprised of African Americans); 3) Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI); 4) Tribal College or University; 5) Alaska Native-Serving Institution; 6) Native American-Serving nontribal institution; and 7) Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution.
Junior Scholar Award
Description
This award recognizes scholars at the early stage of their career (within ten years of receiving the PhD). Members of the SSS whose scholarly work demonstrates career promise and who are making a significant contribution to the field are eligible for this award.
Nomination Procedure
Candidates for the Junior Scholar award may be nominated or self-nominate, and must be a member of the SSS. Award packets should include a curriculum vita, statement of research accomplishments, and three letters of support, two of which must be from members of the SSS.
Applications for the award are due Dec. 1 to the Executive Office.