GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER AWARD

Deadline: 1/31/26

The Global Division announces its 2026 Graduate Student Paper Competition. The goal is to encourage critical scholarship around global issues and problems. Although the concept of global encompasses an array of subject areas, paper topics must have a global focus and may include but are not limited to the following themes: Epistemologies from the Global South, Global Environmental and Climate Justice, Global Social Theory, Political Economy and Development, Health and the Global South, Global Migrations and Inequalities, Global Capital and Local Struggles, (Unequal) Knowledge production and dissemination, Neo-liberalism and the Global South, Counterhegemonic Globalizations, Human rights from global perspectives, Critical Qualitative Studies including Ethnographies, Global and Transnational Citizenship, Global Social Movements, Protests and Mobilizations, Global and Transnational Feminisms including the Global South, Global Solidarities, Transnational Organizing within the Global South, Global Public Sociology, Labor in Globalization, Families in the Global Context, Global Care Economy, Displacement and Discontents, the New Right at the global level, Transnational Communities, Indigeneity from Global Perspectives, etc.

Jointly authored papers are accepted; however, all contributing authors must be graduate students at the time of submission for the award. The award recipient will receive student membership in the SSSP, conference registration at the 2026 Annual SSSP Meeting, an electronic certificate of recognition, be recognized at the SSSP Awards Ceremony, and receive a $200 prize. Award recipients are expected to present their papers at the 2026 SSSP Annual Meeting. Papers should be accompanied by a cover letter specifying the submission to be considered for the 2026 Graduate Student Competition to the Chair of the Global Division: Beatriz Padilla (padillab@usf.edu).

Please submit the paper electronically in a format compatible with MS Word. Papers should be double-spaced and not exceed 10,000 words, including references. Authors should ensure that they receive a confirmation of receipt for their submission. Note: previous winners of this award are not eligible to compete again, and students may only submit their paper to one division competition. To be eligible, submissions must be uploaded to the Call for Papers online submission system for the SSSP Annual Meeting and sent to the chair of the Division, Beatriz Padilla (padillab@usf.edu), by January 31, 2026. See below for further details:

  • Applicants must be students at the time of submission.
  • Papers must be submitted through the Annual Meeting Call for Papers process as a condition for award consideration. This ensures that winning papers are placed in the program.
  • Papers are not eligible if they have been published or accepted for publication before submission.
  • Papers are not eligible if previously presented at SSSP or presented or accepted for presentation at other professional meetings, unless substantially revised with new data, findings, or theoretical contributions.
  • Papers must be student authored or student co-authored and cannot include faculty co-authors.
  • Review the approved annual meeting policy statements.
  • Deadline for all SPC submissions is January 31, 2026.
OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD

Deadline: 3/1/26

The Global Division announces its 2026 Outstanding Book Award. The award is intended to recognize published work of exceptional quality in the field of global issues and social problems, and to encourage critical scholarship in this area. Books on a variety of topics and themes of global relevance are considered for the award, including but not limited to the following: alternative models of globalization, global dynamics and forms of resistance to neoliberalism, transnational social movements, protests and mobilization, human rights struggles and global activisms (around gender, indigeneity, race/ethnicity, migration, peace/war, social justice, etc.), transnational communities and cultural politics, global cities, global environmental and climate justice, global social problems theory, global capital and local struggles, global migrations and displacement, critical epistemologies and theorizations from the Global South, etc. We are particularly interested in books that make critical contributions to understandings of global political/social/economic/cultural/environmental dynamics.

To be eligible, books must have been published within 3 years of the annual meeting (2023-2026 for this year’s award) and not have been nominated for this award previously. Single or multiple authored books will be accepted, however edited collections are excluded. At least one of the authors must be a member of the SSSP to qualify for the award, although they are not required to present a paper at the 2026 SSSP Annual Meeting. Nominations can be made by members of the Global Division as well as by publishers; self-nominations are also welcome. The winner will be recognized at the 2026 Global Division business meeting.

Nominees should first send a letter with full publication information and a paragraph outlining the reasons for their nomination to Beatriz Padilla at padillab@usf.edu. All nominating correspondence should include “SSSP Global Division Outstanding Book Award Nomination” in the email subject heading. Once your nomination letter has been received, Beatriz Padilla will confirm the mailing addresses to which copies of the book should be sent directly. Authors will be requested to facilitate with their publishers that both a physical and an electronic copy of the book (if available) be sent to each member of the award committee by the nomination deadline, March 1, 2026.