Annual Awards

The Ethics Section has three awards that are presented at the annual ASPA meeting.

Best Ethics Paper from a Public Administration Student

Each year faculty is requested to nominate or submit an ethics paper prepared by a student in one of their public administration courses. The paper need not be written for a course on ethics, but must have a primary focus on ethical issues, dilemmas, or practices. The paper should have been prepared during the calendar year preceding the award presentation at ASPA's national conference. The baseline criteria for judging the papers are: use of the literature, readability, and quality of the analysis or argument. The last criterion (quality of the analysis or argument) is the most important in determining the final selection. The current award committee is chaired by Dr. Dan Williams, Daniel_williams@baruch.cuny.edu.

Ethics in Practice

Each year an individual may be nominated in recognition of demonstrated ethics in practice. The award is open to people who work or have worked in the public, academic or nonprofit arena. The baseline criteria for judging are: used effective means for leading in advancing ethical standards and behavior within an organization, profession, or among the general public; an act or pattern of actions that exemplifies ethical behavior in public, academic or nonprofit service; and the demonstrated impact of the ethical behavior on the enhancement of people's lives or organizational culture. The current award committee is chaired by Mr. Russ Carlsen, Russ.Carlsen@CityofPaloAlto.org.

Best Paper in Public Integrity

Each year a single published work will be recognized from the year's Volume, Numbers 1-4. Two works may be selected [one for an article, and a second from the categories of commentaries, case studies and exemplars] only if the committee agrees that the types and styles of articles are so different that they could not be compared. The baseline criteria for judging the works are: contribution to the literature, readability, use of the literature, appropriate methodology, and its significance beyond its contribution to the literature. The last criterion (significance) is the most critical and is given more weight than the others. The current award committee is chaired by Dr. Patricia Alt, palt@towson.edu.