Elizabeth H. Nelson Prize

This prize is presented to the best paper written and presented at the annual conference by one or more persons from a society in transition (tiers B, C or D). This prize was endowed by WAPOR past president Elizabeth Nelson, who was president of WAPOR in 1991-1992. The author(s) will receive $750.

Submission: The author(s) will have had their abstract accepted for presentation to the WAPOR 77th Annual Conference. Authors will then submit their completed papers electronically (send to waporoffice@gmail.com) by the deadline of May 31, 2024  (by 11:59 pm ET). Entries are expected to be approximately 15 to 25 pages in length, font Times New Roman 12, double-spaced. References citation format: APA.  Lengthy tables or other statistical calculations (over 1 page length) should be included in an appendix. The appendix is not counted towards the overall paper length. The paper may have multiple authors; all authors on an entry must meet the eligibility requirements for the award (coming from countries in tiers B, C or D).

A panel of researchers from WAPOR’s membership–drawn from the academic, government, and commercial sectors–will evaluate the submissions. Competitors will be notified of a decision prior to the start of the annual conference. The committees reserve the right not to give an award.


Past Award Winners

1995 – Francis D. Adu-Poku, Ghana
1996 – Huixin Ke, China
1997 – Gerardo Adrogué, Argentina
1998 – Hyunyi Cho, USA
1999 – Gerardo Adrogué, Argentina
2000 – Jonathan J.H. Zhu, Huailin Chen and Steve Zhongshi Guo, China
2001 – Azra Abdul Cader, Sri Lanka
2002 – None awarded
2003 – Zhongshi Guo, Hong Kong, Weng Hin Cheong and Huailin Chen, Macao
2004 – None Awarded
2005 – Rachel Meneguello, Brazil
2006 – Annie Barbara Chikwanha, South Africa
2007 – Ibrahim Saleh, Egypt
2008 – Tamás Bodor, USA (Budapest)
2009 – Noppadon Kannika, Thailand
2010 – Marcia Cavallari Nunes, Joao F. Resende and Malu Giani, Brazil
2011 – Jantima Kheokao, Thailand
2012 – Thomas Vitiello, Ali Çarkoğlu and Mert Moral, Turkey
2013 – None awarded
2014 – Róbert Péter, Hungary
2015 – María Laura Tagina, Argentina
2016 – Chao Zhang and Shaowei Chen, China
2017 – Natalia Soboleva, Russia
2018 – Anna Efimova and Denis Strebkov, Russia
2019 – Ricardo González, Esteban Muñoz and Josefa Henríquez, Chile
2020 – Mălina Voicu and Ioana Ramia, Romania
2021 – Márcia Cavallari Nunes, Guilherme José Sanches Militão, and Rosi Rosendo, Brazil
2022 – Viyaleta Korsunava and Boris Sokolov, Russian Federation
2023 – Nataliya Reshetova, Ukraine


Award Committee Members

2022: Constanza Cilley (Argentina, Chair), Michael Nitsche (Austria), Rico Neumann (Germany), Tamas Bodor (USA), and Saidul Haq (Bangladesh). 

2023: Constanza Cilley (Argentina, Chair), Michael Nitsche (Austria), Rico Neumann (Germany), Eva Aizpurua (UK), and Saidul Haq (Bangladesh). 

2024: Constanza Cilley (Argentina, Chair), Michael Nitsche (Austria), Rico Neumann (Germany), Eva Aizpurua (UK), and Saidul Haq (Bangladesh).