Eligibility
This competition is open to all undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers that are at most two years beyond their terminal degree. The author must be a member of the SDNS Section or should join the section at the time of the paper submission. The contribution may be a theoretical development or it may cover any of the numerous applications related to defense or national security. This paper competition is for completed research. A manuscript suitable for journal submission is required to enter the competition. Published papers are eligible if (1) the paper had not previously won an ASA-funded student paper competition, and (2) the paper was accepted within the past two years. The winner will have the opportunity to present the paper in a topic-contributed session sponsored by SDNS.
Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts will be judged based on relevance and interest of the subject matter, the quality of writing, and of course the quality of the research itself. Entrants should submit the following:
- A list of authors and contact information (the contestant must be the first author).
- A double-spaced, publication-ready manuscript in two versions: a regular manuscript with author information and a blinded manuscript without author information or other identifying information (such as references). Both versions should include an abstract.
- A reference letter from a faculty member familiar with the submitted work, stating the status of the applicant and the publication status of the manuscript.
All required materials for the Student Paper Award Competition must be submitted by 15 November 2024 to the Student Paper Award Committee, via email at SDNS.Amstat@gmail.com. The email should include the two versions of the completed manuscript as attachments in PDF format. Please include the words "SDNS Student Paper Competition" in the subject line of the email.
Award
The winning author will receive a plaque and a travel award of $1000 to defray costs for attendance and presentation of their work at an ASA sponsored conference. The winner will be presented with a certificate at the SDNS Mixer at the 2025 JSM. Please note that the financial award will likely not cover all of a winner's travel, so the winner will need to supplement the travel award with other funds.
Student Paper Award winners will be announced by 15 January 2025. Winners should submit an abstract to the topic contributed session under SDNS and register for JSM 2025 by 1 February 2025 through the official JSM abstract submission system.