Information on Eligibility for and the Awarding of Student Prizes

In addition to the William Pollitzer Travel Prize, which is an essay competition,

The American Association of Physical Anthropologists awards prizes to outstanding papers and posters presented at the annual meeting whose first author is a student.

Four prizes are given in honor of Juan Comas, Ales Hrdlicka, Mildred Trotter, and Sherwood Washburn. A fifth prize, named for Earnest A. Hooton, is given for the best poster presentation. The four other prizes may be awarded for either a paper or poster presentation. The Mildred Trotter prize is given for a superior presentation on bones and teeth; the other prizes have no restriction as to subject matter.

To be eligible for a prize, a paper or poster must meet the following criteria:

A. The first author must be a student member of the AAPA who has not previously won a prize for a paper or poster presented at the annual meeting. Individuals who have completed all terminal degree requirements before the abstract submission deadline are ineligible for a student prize.

B. The paper and the project to be presented must be primarily the work of the first author.

C. The abstract must have been accepted for presentation.

D. A summary of your presentation, following the guidelines below, should be sent electronically as a Microsoft Word file to Professor Simon Hillson at simon.hillson@ucl.ac.uk by Monday 16 February 2009. Please note that this is a change from previous years and replaces the requirement for a full manuscript.

Please give a brief summary of your podium or poster presentation in up to 1000 words, not including references. Referencing, tables and figure captions should follow the AJPA style. Organise your summary under the following headings:

1. Full names of authors and institution addresses

2. Title

3. Research questions or hypotheses

4. Background to questions

5. Methods used to answer the questions

6. Results

7. Discussion

8. Conclusions

9. Bibliography

Use some diagrams, graphs or pictures if you wish, but the total length of your summary should not exceed 6 pages (American letter or European A4 size).

E. If the paper is multi-authored, include a cover letter with the manuscript stating the contributions of each of the authors in terms of intellectual and/or methodological investment.

F. If two student co-authors contributed equally to the paper, and want to be considered as principal investigators (PI’s) of the paper, they will notify the chair of the student affairs committee. Should they win an award, they will each receive a check for $375.

G. The student must personally make the presentation of the paper or poster.

The Student Affairs Committee judges the written and visual/oral presentations for quality of ideas and clarity of presentation. Prizes are awarded at the annual Awards Reception on the last evening of the Annual Meetings.

Further information may be obtained from the Student Affairs Committee Chairperson listed below.

Send summaries for student prize entries by Monday 16 February 2009 to:

Simon W. Hillson

Institute of Archaeology

University College London

31-34 Gordon Square

London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom

phone: 44-44171-387-7050

Email: simon.hillson@ucl.ac.uk

William S. Pollitzer Student Travel Awards (2009)

Description of the award:

This is an award of $500 in honor of Dr. William S. Pollitzer. It is designed to help students defray the costs of attending the AAPA meetings. This year, ten awards will be given.

Student qualifications:

This award is open to all AAPA student members (undergraduate and graduate). You do NOT have to be giving a paper to compete or receive an award.

Essay description and submission:

1. The topic of this year’s essay is (please note there are 3 parts to the question):

“The new physical anthropology has much to offer anyone interested in the structure or evolution of man, but this is only the beginning. To build it, we must collaborate with social scientists, geneticists, anatomists, and paleontologists. We need new ideas, new methods, new workers. There is nothing we do today which will not be done better tomorrow.”

-Sherwood Washburn 1951

With this call Washburn suggested a move away from reliance on typological/classificatory approaches and a move towards comparative, evolutionary, and multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to understanding humanity and our relatives.

How do you see this in your specific field of biological anthropology today?

2. The essay can be no more than 750 words long (not including references).

3. The essay will be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word file. Any submission over 750 words will be automatically disqualified. The essay will be sent to Professor Simon Hillson at simon.hillson@ucl.ac.uk by Monday 16 January 2009. Students should follow up the e-mail with the attached essay by a regular e-mail alerting Professor Hillson to the fact that the essay was sent. Students should expect to receive within 24 hours an e-mail acknowledging receipt of the essay.

Essay evaluation and scoring procedures:

The AAPA student prize committee will evaluate each submission with an identification number to mask authors’ identities. When distributed to the judges, each essay will be identified by a number assigned by the committee chair. The scoring criteria are:

1. Clarity and focus. 45 points possible

2. Originality of thought and insight. 45 points possible

3. Grammar and spelling. 10 points possible

The average scores from all judges will be used as the basis for deciding the winners of the award, with the AAPA Executive Board giving final approval of the committee’s recommendation.