Distinguished Scholar Award
This award honors an individual’s sustained and distinguished scholarship, and/or service in the fields of terrorism, bias crimes, or political violence from a criminological perspective. The awardee is expected to give opening remarks at the annual DTBC Division meeting during the following Division Meeting.
Nominees for Distinguished Scholar should have an established career in academia/research, and have held a Ph.D. degree for at least ten years. Outstanding contributions to the field of terrorism, bias crimes, or political violence from a criminological perspective may consist of a single outstanding book or work, a series of theoretical or research contributions, or the recipient’s accumulated scholarly and policy and practice contributions. Current members of the Division Executive Board are excluded from being considered for the Award.
Nomination requires a letter of nomination and a complete CV. The nomination letter must explain why the candidate is qualified to be considered for the award. Letter-writing campaigns by multiple nominators are discouraged.
2023: Dr. Joshua Freilich was the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award.
2021: Dr. Steven Chermak was the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Scholar Award. He gave opening remarks during the DTBC meeting at the ASC conference in Chicago, IL.
2020: Dr. Barbara Perry was the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Scholar Award. As the DTBC Distinguished Scholar Award Winner, Dr. Perry delivered a keynote address for the Division’s 2020 Virtual Research Symposium.
2019: Dr. Gary Lafree was the recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award. His remarks were titled “In Defense of Induction.” Dr. Joshua Freilich made introductory remarks.
2018: Valerie Jenness and Ryken Grattet were the recipients of the Distinguished Scholar award in 2018. Please follow this link to read the 2018 Distinguished Scholar Award speech given by Dr. Grattet. The 2018 Distinguished Scholar Award introductory remarks were given by Laura Dugan.
2017: Brent Smith was the recipient of the inaugural Distinguished Scholar Award in 2017. Please follow this link to read his 2017 Distinguished Scholar Award speech. The 2017 Distinguished Scholar Award introductory remarks were given by Gary LaFree.
Student Paper Award
The Student Paper Award is awarded annually in recognition of the most outstanding student research paper. The top paper will be recognized at the annual meeting of the Division, and highlighted on our website. The best paper will receive a $500 award, and the second place paper will receive $250.
Students should be enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral Level Program at the time of submission. Eligibility is limited to papers that are authored by graduate students and have not been previously published or accepted for publication at the time of submission. Papers written with faculty members are not eligible. Students may submit only one paper a year for this competition, and it should not have been submitted for another ASC award in the same year. We will consider both empirical and theoretical contributions, but the subject matter should engage the mission of the division.
Each paper will be scored for its research contribution, integration of prior literature, execution of the research design, and quality of writing. The Committee may decide that no entry is of sufficient quality to declare a winner.
Papers should be 30 pages or less (page count excludes tables/figures/references/etc). The submission attachments (can be submitted separately or combined into one document) should include the following:
- A title page with Author’s Name, Department, Contact Information, and Degree Program
- An abstract page (150 words or less).
- Paper (manuscript is acceptable)
- Tables/Figures/References (please use Criminology formatting as a guide)
2023: Isaac John Moelter (University of Nebraska – Omaha) received the first place award, and the award for second place went to Laura Bradley.
2022: Christopher Seto (Pennsylvania State University) received the first place award for his paper titled “God and group: The religious ecology of violence against Muslims and Jews in the United States”. The award for second place went to Taylor June (Ohio State University) for her paper titled “Court Actor Decision-Making: The Influence of Victim Characteristics on Legal Outcomes in Cases of Bias Homicide”.
2021: Chenghui Zhang (University of Kentucky) received the first place award for her paper titled “Constructing Racial Hate Crimes: Does Respondent Racial Identity Matter?” and Sara Doering (Simon Fraser University) received second place for her paper titled “Much Ado about Trump: Exploring the Influence of the 2016 Presidential Election on Right-Wing Terrorism in the United States.”
2019: Leevia Dillon and Michael Becker won 1st and 2nd place, respectively, in the Student Paper Award competition.
2018: Kayla Allison (Indiana University) and Brent R. Klein (Michigan State University) received our inaugural student paper award (1st place) for their paper titled “Toward a situational understanding of bias-motivated crimes: A comparative analysis of racial bias homicides and interracial homicides in the U.S., 1990- 2014.” Sara Doering received a second place student paper award for “Reconceptualizing Extremist Typologies: A Comparison of Islamic, Right-Wing and Left-Wing Extremism.”
Early Career Impact Award
This award honors an individual’s impact on the fields of terrorism, bias crimes, or other forms of political violence from a criminological perspective early in their career.
Those eligible must be untenured at time of nomination and have earned their Ph.D. degree less than eight years prior to the year of nomination. Examples of early-career impacts include the publication of an influential book or work, a highly-cited journal article, or notable contributions to policy and practice. Current Executive Board members are excluded from being considered for the Award.
Nomination requires a letter of nomination and a complete CV. The nomination letter must explain why the candidate is qualified to be considered for the award. Self-nominations are welcome. Letter-writing campaigns by multiple nominators are discouraged.
2023 Dr. Brandon Behlendorf (SUNY Albany) was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Early Career Impact Award. Learn more about Dr. Behlendorf and his research here.
2022 Dr. Ryan Scrivens (Michigan State University) was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Early Career Impact Award. He presented virtual remarks at the DTBC General Meeting in Atlanta, GA. Learn more about Dr. Scrivens’ research here.