Recognizing the Merit of our Peers: 2026 APSA Awards Nominations Open

One of the many important roles of the American Political Science Association (APSA) is recognizing excellence in the political science profession.  APSA makes awards for the best dissertations, papers and articles, and books in the various subfields, and for career achievement in research, teaching and service to the discipline.  These awards will be presented at the 2026 APSA Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Contact awards@apsanet.org if you have questions.

The deadline to submit nominations is February 11, 2026. Learn more and submit a 2026 APSA award nomination →

Career Awards	Proposal and Dissertation Awards	Paper, Poster, and Article Awards	Book Awards
APSA Award for Teaching Innovation honors a wide range of new directions in teaching APSA Distinguished Award for Civic and Community Engagement for significant civic or community engagement activity by a political scientist APSA Distinguished Teaching Award for contributions to undergraduate and graduate teaching APSA Community College Faculty Award for making exemplary contributions to advance the multi-faceted goals of community college faculty Frank J. Goodnow Award for distinguished service to the profession and APSA John Gaus Award for scholarship in political science and public administration Hubert H. Humphrey Award for notable public service by a political scientist James Madison Award for political scientist who has made a distinguished scholarly contribution to political science Carey McWilliams Award for major journalistic contributions to politics The Sage/CQ Press Award honoring both research-based projects and those that may involve activism that has focused on advancing social justice and addressing inequality and inequity in society Barbara Sinclair Lecture for achievement in promoting understanding of the U.S. Congress and legislative politics APSA-PSA International Partnership Award honors political scientists engaged in collaborative and productive cross-national partnerships that make a significant contribution to the discipline in the areas of teaching, research, or civic engagement	Gabriel A. Almond Award for best dissertation on comparative politics William Anderson Award for best dissertation on federalism or intergovernmental relations, state and local politics Edward S. Corwin Award for best dissertation on public law Harold D. Lasswell Award for best dissertation on policy studies E.E. Schattschneider Award for best dissertation on American government NEW! Kenneth Sherrill Award for Emerging Scholars for the best doctoral dissertation on LGBTQ+ topics in political science Kenneth Sherrill Prize for best proposal for an empirical study of LGBT topics Leo Strauss Award for best dissertation on political philosophy Merze Tate Award for best dissertation on international relations, law, and politics Leonard D. White Award for best doctoral dissertation on public administration	APSA Best Poster Award for the best poster presented at the APSA Annual Meeting Franklin L. Burdette/Pi Sigma Alpha Award for best paper at the previous APSA Annual Meeting Heinz I. Eulau Award for best article in American Political Science Review and Perspectives on Politics – Nominations are not accepted for the Eulau Award; all articles published within the past year are automatically eligible. Robert A. Dahl Award for an untenured scholar who has produced scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy	Merze Tate – Elinor Ostrom Outstanding Book Award for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs Ralph J. Bunche Award for best book on ethnic and cultural pluralism Benjamin E. Lippincott Award for exceptional work by a living political theorist that is still considered significant after a time span of at least 15 years since the original publication Gladys M. Kammerer Award for best book on US national policy Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics APSA-IPSA Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award honors the author of a first book in any field of political science that exemplifies qualities of broad ambition, high originality, and intellectual daring, showing promise of having a substantive impact on the overall discipline

Learn more about the American Political Science Association Awards →