Awards

Religion and Politics
Section Awards

Annual Submission information, including deadlines and selection committee members, can be found on the Announcements page

Hubert Morken Best Book Award

The Hubert Morken Award is given for the best book dealing with religion and politics published within the previous year. The criteria for the award include the originality of the argument presented, quality of the research, innovative methods, readability of the text and the policy or practical implications of the scholarship. To be eligible for the award, books must have been published in the preceding year.

Past Recipients

2024 Call for Nominations

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Aaron Wildavsky Best Dissertation Award

The Aaron Wildavsky Award recognizes the best dissertation in the field of religion and politics. Eligible dissertations have been defended in the last two years and should make a distinctive contribution to the study of religion and politics, broadly understood. 

Past Recipients

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Susanne Hoeber Rudolph Outstanding Scholar Award

The Susanne Hoeber Rudolph Outstanding Scholar Award recognizes a scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the field of religion and politics. These contributions should be through a combination of excellent and widely influential scholarship, policy input/impact, public engagement, service, teaching, and mentorship.

Past Recipients

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Weber Best Paper in Religion and Politics Award

Weber Best Paper in Religion and Politics Award recognizes the best paper dealing with religion and politics presented at the previous year’s APSA Annual Meeting (2023). The paper should address a timely and relevant topic, within the discipline and beyond, in a theoretically innovative and methodologically thorough manner. All papers presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting are eligible, regardless of modality of presentation (ie. in person, virtual/synchronous, and pre-recorded paper presentations are all eligible).

Past Recipients

 
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Kenneth D. Wald Best Graduate Student Paper Award

The Kenneth D. Wald Best Graduate Student Paper Award is given annually to a conference paper studying any aspect of religion and politics presented by a Ph.D. student in political science. The conference can be affiliated with any of the US-based political science associations or a conference affiliated with another association, such as the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Academy of Religion, the Middle East Studies Association, or the International Studies Association, as long as the paper was written by a student or students enrolled in a graduate program in political science and presented in 2022 or 2023. Papers written with faculty will not be considered. Papers presented at poster sessions are welcome.

Past Recipients

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Ted Jelen Best Journal Article Award

This annual award goes to the best paper in the Politics & Religion journal.

Past Recipients

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Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award of the Religion & Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) recognizes outstanding scholars of religion and politics at the point of retirement (or shortly thereafter) who have made enduring contributions to the field through their scholarship, service, and mentorship. The award is intended to honor recipients who were regular and active Religion & Politics Section members during the periods of their primary contributions to the field. Anticipating that such scholars are exceptional, the call for nominations will remain open, the nominations will be confidential, and the award is not expected to be given every year. The Award committee will be composed of the Executive Committee of the Religion & Politics Section, chaired by the section chair, to whom nominations shall be addressed.

Past Recipients:

2023: John C. Green, James L. Guth, Lyman “Bud” Kellstedt, and Corwin E. Smidt