History of the Award

The Annual NRC Student Outstanding Research Award was initiated in 1985 to encourage greater participation of students in NRC meetings and to honor excellent scholarship efforts. The award is given for an outstanding student conference paper, which may or may not be based on a dissertation. All forms of research, including conceptual papers, are welcomed. A version of the winning paper is published in the NRC Yearbook. Application information is available on the web. Individuals who indicate that they are interested in applying for the award on the "Call for Proposal" form will be sent an e-mail reminder notice after conference proposal notices are completed. Applicants are encouraged to contact the Chair for information. Please check the criteria described below before requesting award information.

Criteria for Consideration for the Award

**Please review carefully as the application procedures have changed***

1. The paper must be solely student-authored. It may be co-authored with other students, but cannot be co-authored with a faculty member, either as presented or in its published form.
2. The research must have been conducted, at least in part, after August 1, 2006.
3. The proposal must have been accepted for presentation at the conference.
4. The application for the award (obtain this from the committee chair or the website) must be accompanied by a sponsorship form (included with Award application materials) in which a faculty member at the home institution affirms that the applicant conducted the research.
5. Application materials, including the application form signed by sponsoring faculty person, a cover sheet, one hard copy of the paper, and one electronic version of the paper must be received by September 23, 2008 by the Student Award Committee Chair:
   
   Bridget Dalton
   Work: 615-343-1491
   bridget.dalton@vanderbilt.edu
   
   Mailing Address:
   Vanderbilt University
   Department of Teaching & Learning
   Box 330 GPC
   Nashville, TN 37203
   
   Delivery Address: (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.)
   Vanderbilt University
   Department of Teaching & Learning
   1930 South Drive
   240 Wyatt Center
   Nashville, TN 37212
   
   *The sponsoring faculty member’s signature is only sent with the hard copy of the manuscript, not with the electronic file.
6. An electronic Microsoft Word file of the complete paper with a cover page must also be received by September 23, 2008 by Bridget Dalton bridget.dalton@vanderbilt.edu.

IMPORTANT: Deadline to RECEIVE ALL applications materials (including hard copy and electronic copy of the paper) is September 23, 2008.

Paper Guidelines

• Paper must be the equivalent of 25 double-spaced pages typed in 12 point font with APA margins. All quotes must be double-spaced. The 25-page limitation includes all tables, appendices, graphs, charts, and other ancillaries to the text. Authors of papers not meeting these guidelines will be notified and given 3 days to comply with guidelines.
• As many additional pages as necessary are permitted for listing references used in the paper.

Review Process

• Papers will receive blind reviews by members of the Student Award Committee. Please check the body of the paper to make sure there are no author-identifying references.
• Review categories include:
  • SIGNIFICANCE
  • RATIONALE
  • METHODOLOGY OR THEORETICAL SOUNDNESS
  • PRESENTATION OF RESULTS OR CONCEPTS
  • QUALITY OF WRITING
  • MOVES FIELD FORWARD
• Applicants will be notified of results by the end of November, 2008. The award will be presented at the conference, along with an honorarium of $500.
• Revision recommendations will be given to the winner by the committee, and the revised paper will be submitted to the NRC Yearbook editor for publication in the NRC Yearbook by the journal’s deadline. NOTE: Acceptance of the award is a commitment to publish the paper in the NRC Yearbook. Publishing your paper in the NRC Yearbook does not preclude sending an article from the same research project to another journal.

Click here to download an application.

Read recent award winners' NRC Yearbook publications:

• 2004 Winner - Rebecca Deffes Silverman - Investigating Methods of Kindergarten Vocabulary Instruction: Which Methods Work Best?
• 2005 Winner - Megan Madigan Peercy - "So That You'll Be Good Readers": ESL Teachers' Classroom Discourses About Reading
• 2006 Winner - Antony T. Smith - The Middle School Literacy Coach: Considering Roles in Context

Student Outstanding Research Award Winners
Peter Afflerbach (1985)
Deborah Wells Rowe (1986)
Maribeth Cassidy Schmitt (1987)
Sally Hague (1988)
Joyce Many (1989)
Douglas Hartman (1990)
Joyce Holt Jennings (1990)
Sarah J. McCarthey (1991)
J. Michael Parker (1991)
Debra K. Meyer (1992)
Janice F. Almasi (1993)
Janet W. Bloodgood (1994)
Ann Watts Pailliotet (1994)
Jane West (1995)
Kathryn H. Davinroy (1996)
Susan J. Dymock (1997)
Lawrence R. Sipe (1997)
Josephine Peyton Young (1998)
Patrick Manyak (1999)
Emily M. Rodgers (1999)
Rebecca Rogers (2000)
Nancy A. Place (2001)
Kim Bobola (2002)
Yoon-Hee Na (2003)
Rebecca Deffes Silverman (2004)
Megan Madigan Peercy (2005)
Antony Smith (2006)
Elizabeth Stolle (2007)