Outstanding Equity Research

Purpose: The purpose of the SECoPA Award for Outstanding Equity Research is to encourage scholars to develop and present original research manuscripts that address equity in a tangible way by recognizing the best work in this area with an award for the outstanding paper delivered at the annual conference.

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SECOPA began in 1969, a time when it became evident that the then recent passage of landmark civil rights legislation was making it possible for the South to greatly improve itself following centuries of self-defeating repressions of liberty. Knowing that the practice and study of public administration could play key roles in enhancing liberty, fairness, and opportunity for all throughout our region, the founders of SECoPA sought to bring together practitioners and scholars to foster the doing of public administration in ways that enhance equity. SECoPA has, and continues to, promote equity as a means of expanding the success of all citizens through governance writ large.

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Eligibility Criteria: Any manuscript delivered at the annual SECoPA conference is eligible for this award, provided it addresses a core aspect of equity as its central focus. This might include social equity, race, gender, or class-based equity, income equity, geographical equity, and so on. Authors may include faculty scholars, students, practitioners, or any combination thereof. In order to be eligible for this award, contenders must submit their proposal and be invited to present during the annual conference. To receive the award, the author or at least one co-author of the winning paper must register and attend the SECoPA conference, present the paper, and attend the awards function where the award is presented (normally a luncheon). Papers must be self-selected into consideration by their authors by submitting the full manuscript to the evaluation committee following published guidelines on the conference website at a date to precede the conference by approximately six weeks following the process guidelines set out below.

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Award: Plaque, $300 cash award, registration fee waiver. If a paper is co-authored, the cash award will be divided equally among the co-authors. The SECoPA Conference Program Chair will waive up to two registration fees for co-authored papers. Awardees remain responsible for any other conference attendance costs including but not limited to lodging, airfare, or mileage.

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Application Process:

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1. Award chair issues a call for abstracts, coordinating the call with the SECoPA general call for papers. In that call, the deadline for full paper submission, paper page limit, and submission instructions are set[BR1] .

2. Authors submit an abstract following the SECoPA proposal instructions for that conference year, indicating that they would like to be considered for the Award. If so instructed, they should also submit a copy of their abstract directly to the award committee chair for that year.

3. Extensions of the deadline for abstract submission, if any, are made by the SECoPA program chair.

4. SECoPA program committee accepts or rejects abstracts submitted.

5. SECoPA program committee informs Award chair of abstract decision.

6. Award chair e-mails authors whose abstracts have been accepted, reminding them of the deadline for submitting a full paper, page limitations, and instructions on how to submit.

7. Extension of deadline for submission of the full paper is at the discretion of the awards committee. In general, extensions will not be granted.

8. Papers are to be no longer than 8,000 words, not including references and/or appendices. Papers that exceed the page limitations will not be considered unless exceptions are granted by the awards committee.

9. Winners of awards will be notified by the award chair at least one month prior to the day the conference[BR2]  convenes.

10. The winning author, or at least one co-author, must register for the conference, present the paper, and attend the awards function.

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Evaluation Criteria:

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1. Topic significance and relevance for public policy and administration.

2. Focus on a core dimension of equity as the conceptual focus of the paper; these might include, but are not limited to:

   1. Social equity;

   2. Gender and/or sexual identity equity;

   3. Racial equity;

   4. Income equity;

   5. Class-based equity;

   6. Intersectionality; and

   7. Equity issues arising from nationality, immigration status, religion, or any other definable characteristic.

3. Organization, readability, clarity of style.

4. Adequate literature review.

5. Conceptual clarity and soundness of hypotheses.

6. Appropriate research design.

7. Methodological rigor, including validity and reliability.

8. Adequate evidence supporting the conclusion.

9. Contribution to existing knowledge.

10. Practical significance of the findings to policy or management.

 

Award Committee Membership: Shall consist of at least three SECoPA members. The chair of the committee is appointed by the SECoPA President or may be held by the prior year’s winner. The remaining two members are recruited by the committee chair in consultation with the SECoPA awards committee chair and should be representative of the region.