Postgraduate Conference Paper Prize is awarded annually to the best conference paper by postgraduate students.
Postgraduate Conference Paper Prize Guideline
Call for nominations open: 30 June 2025
Call for nominations close: 18 August 2025
The Postgraduate Conference Paper Prize is administered by the conference hosts.
Nomination Guidelines
- The prize is awarded to the best paper submitted for refereeing prior to the conference by postgraduate students.
- An abstract can be submitted as a nomination. This must be followed by the full paper by 4 November.
- Nominations to sent to APSA National Office (info@auspsa.org.au).
- Each stream coordinator will be invited to nominate the best postgraduate paper from within their stream, informed by referee comments where possible.
- The nominee must be a current financial member of APSA in the year of nomination.
Judging Process
- The decision will be made by a judging panel chaired by a member of the conference organising committee. The panel will read and rank the nominated papers, applying the following criteria:
- Degree of originality
- use of appropriate sources;
- coherence of argument;
- sophistication of analysis; and
- Members of judging panels should adhere to the Guidance on Identifying and Managing Conflicts of Interest. If the Chair of a judging panel has a significant conflict of interest, they must relinquish their position as Chair to one of the other panellists.
- APSA reserves the right not to award the prize in any given year.
Award Details
- The winner will be invited to attend the Association’s annual conference dinner and receive the prize of $1000 and a certificate.
- This Prize is funded by the APSA.
Past Winners:
2023: Daniel Casey, “Democratic responsiveness to different forms of opinion“
Highly commended: Mark Riboldi, “The Loci of Power and Connection”
Highly commended: Jieun S. Park, “Love or Hated?”
2022: Ernest Mensah Akuamoah, “‘It’s US against Them’: Populist Rule and Electoral Violence”
Highly commended: Sofia Ammasari, “Less active, less ambitious: Stigmatisation and participation in populist radical right parties”
2021: Michael Kumove, “Imagining the ‘Other’: How does outgroup trust affect generalised trust?”
Highly commended: Simran Keshwani, ‘Creating a renewables giant: the rise of national champions in India’s solar sector’
2020: James Hayne, ‘ Media Coverage of Opinion Polling: Does the Media Favour Historically Accurate Pollsters?‘
2019: Jordan McSwiney, ‘Social Networks and Digital Organisation: Far Right Parties at the 2019 Australian Federal Election.’
2018: Prudence Brown, ‘We Can’t Live on a Piece of Paper – pragmatism and innovation in parks policy in the Northern Territory.’
2017: Jiye Kim, ‘Disputed Waters, Contested Norms: China’s bargaining capability in the South China Sea disputes.’
2016: Trang Dand, ‘From ‘high watermark’ to low ebb? How Aboriginal rights debates in Australia have informed land reform policies in the Northern Territory.’
2015: Sean Barry, ‘Gillard’s clean energy future package – paradigm change minus valence equals failure’
2014: Tu Phuong Nguyen, ‘Rethinking state-labour relations in Vietnam: New institutional dynamics in resolving labour disputes.’