Student, Post-doc, and Early Career Researcher Paper Awards

Submission Due Date: Friday, May 1, 2026
Award Notice: August 15, 2026

Eligibility

Graduate students or early career researchers within 3 years of receiving their PhD at the time of submission are eligible.
This includes postdoctoral researchers and early career faculty.

Note:
Papers selected for this competition will not duplicate those receiving awards in the 2026 JSM SLDS Student Paper Competition.

  • Authors may submit the same paper to both competitions.
  • However, if a paper wins at JSM, it will no longer be eligible for this award.
  • Award-winning JSM papers will be cross-referenced against submissions.
  • Authors remain eligible to win at both conferences provided the submitted papers are sufficiently distinct (i.e., no double-dipping).

Number of Winners

  • 6 winners total
  • At least 3 winners must be graduate students

Award Selection

  • Each paper will be reviewed by 3–5 randomly assigned reviewers (depending on the number of submissions and reviewers available).
  • Reviewers will score papers based on established criteria, including (but not limited to):
    • Novelty of ideas
    • Clarity of writing
    • Rigor of methodology
  • Papers will be ranked from highest to lowest.
  • Selection procedure:
    • The top 3 graduate student papers will automatically be selected as winners.
    • The next 3 highest-ranked papers (excluding the graduate winners) will also be selected. These may include post-doc or graduate student submissions.
  • Award Winners Will
    • Receive travel funding to attend the conference
    • Present their work in a 15-minute paper award session

Poster Session

  • All non-award-winning submissions will be invited to present in the poster session.
  • 3 poster awards will be selected from this session.

Paper Criteria

  • Abstract: Maximum 200 words
  • Paper Length: Up to 25 pages, including:
    • Title page
    • Abstract
    • Main text (double-spaced)
    • Figures and tables
    • References
    • Supplemental material
    • Appendices
  • There is no separate figure/table limit, as long as the total length does not exceed 25 pages.
  • There is no separate figure/table limit, as long as the total length does not exceed 25
  • Code RequirementAll relevant code should be submitted as separate files, or via a GitHub link included in the paper. Code submitted as an appendix does not count toward the 25-page limit.

Submission

Please email your submission to: Dr. Nathaniel O’Connell at Nathaniel[dot]Oconnell[alt]wfusm[dot]edu