Division L awards teams and individual members of our Education Policy and Politics community who exemplify commitment to conducting meaningful research and supporting the research and practice community. There are five awards that we regularly award:

• Outstanding Dissertation Award
• Outstanding Short Policy Report Award (odd years)
• Outstanding Long Policy Report Award (even years)
• Early Career Award (odd years)
• Lifetime Achievement Award (even years)

In 2025, we are awarding the Outstanding Dissertation Award, the Outstanding Short Policy Report Award, and the Early Career Award. All nominations are due by November 15, 2024. You can submit nominations for any of the awards by going to the nomination form and submitting through the form, here: https://bit.ly/aera25_divlawards. Please contact Sarah Lenhoff, Division L Program Co-Chair, with any questions. 

Information about the awards criteria and nomination process can be found below for each award. Our AERA 2025 awards committee chairs are:

• Outstanding Dissertation Award: Alex Freidus
• Outstanding Short Policy Report Award: Terrenda White
• Early Career Award: Chris Redding

Purpose: The purpose of the AERA Division L Outstanding Dissertation Award is to recognize the exceptional research accomplishments of recent doctoral graduates. Dissertations employing any theoretical and methodological orientation may be nominated as long as they make an important contribution to education policy and/or politics.

Eligibility: Dissertations must have been completed and successfully defended between August 2023 and August 2024. At the time the dissertation is being considered, the author must be a member of Division L of AERA.

Nomination Process: Nominations must be submitted by a faculty member of the nominee's doctoral degree granting institution. The nomination package should include the following as four separate attachments:

• A nomination letter from a faculty member of the nominee’s degree granting institution. Please include information about when the nominee defended his/her dissertation.
• A 3- to 4-page double-spaced summary of the dissertation.
• A copy of the dissertation in PDF format.

Submission: Submit nominations to the chair, Dr. Alex Freidus, by November 15, 2024.

Purpose: The Outstanding Policy Report Award recognizes an outstanding policy report that contributes to education research and/or policy through its analysis, evaluation, and/or critique of education policy. The Award alternates between a long and short report. In 2025, AERA Division L will be awarding a short policy report award.

Eligibility/Selection: In 2025, the award will be given to a short policy report (less than 35 pages in length) that best reflects the following selection criteria:

1. Quality: Reflects highest standards of research quality and excellence appropriate to the methods and methodology used.
2. Relevance: Analyzes, evaluates, and/or critiques a timely and relevant education policy or policy issue.
3. Impact: Demonstrates evidence that the report has been used by policymakers, influenced a public or policy debate, and/or advanced a research field.

To be eligible, the report must have been published/released after November 1, 2022, and at least one author must be a Division L member. Eligible policy reports may be published in print or on-line, in electronic journals, newsletters, blog posts, and other media. All submissions will be evaluated under the same selection criteria (research quality, relevance, and impact).

Nomination Process: Nominations must be submitted by the report author, user, or other reader of the work, and must include the following:

• A nomination letter from a Division L member which, among other things, includes evidence of the report's impact (this could be media coverage, a quote or statement of support from a practice or policy partner saying how they used the piece, testimony to a government body, etc.).
• A PDF version of the report.

Submission: Submit nominations to the chair, Dr. Terrenda White, by November 15, 2024.

Purpose: The Division L Early Career Award will recognize a scholar whose initial career (the first seven years past the receipt of the doctorate) shows a high level of productivity. This productivity will be reflected in the quality and impact of the recipient’s research. The nominee must be a member of Division L.

Eligibility/Selection: In selecting a winner, the criteria to be considered will be the quality and impact of the candidate’s work. The winning candidate should have received the doctorate no more than seven years before the time when nominations for the award are due.

Nomination Process: To nominate a candidate, a nominating letter and two (additional) supporting letters must be submitted that describe the candidate’s research contributions to the field of educational policy. Letters should describe the quality of the research as well as its rigor, insight, contribution to policy research, and/or contribution to policy or policy debates. Nominations must be submitted in full no later than the deadline and must include the following:

• A nomination letter
• Two supporting letters from Division L members
• A CV for the nominee
• PDF versions of two exemplary publications by the nominee

Submission: Submit nominations to the chair, Dr. Chris Redding, by November 15, 2024.