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Graduate Paper Award

About the award

Co-sponsored by ISSA and SAGE

The aim of the International Sociology of Sport Association’s (ISSA) Graduate Paper Award is to recognize the scholarship of outstanding graduate students in the international community of sociology of sport. The award will be granted to a scholarly paper, authored by a graduate student, which is deemed by a panel of judges to demonstrate considerable originality, critical and analytical ability, and to be of the highest quality from among those submitted.

Call for papers

Deadline: 14th February 2027, 4.30pm EST

The call for the 2027 GPA award is now open.  We look forward to your submissions.

See Notes for Authors below with details about eligibility, what the award consists of and requirements for submission.

Notes for Authors

Eligibility

·
The student must be registered for master’s or doctoral level graduate work at the
time that their paper is submitted.

·
It must be a single-authored paper.

·
The student must be a member of ISSA at the time that their paper is submitted.

·
The committee will accept only one submission per author.

·
Previous winners are not eligible.

·
A paper cannot be considered for the ISSA GPA award at the same time that it is submitted
for another award

Award

·       Congress registration fees for the 2026 ISSA World Congress for the winner are included in the prize. Please note that in-person participation in 2026 ISSA Congress to be held in Jÿvaskÿla, Finland, is not mandatory.

·        The winning author will receive an ISSA sponsored prize of membership in ISSA for 24 months.

·        The winning author will receive a SAGE Publisher sponsored prize of £150 worth of books.

·       The panel of judges may also give up to two honourable mentions. Graduate students receiving honourable mentions will also   have their papers accepted for presentation or distribution at the ISSA conference.

·        The name of all winning authors will be posted on the ISSA website and publicised in the next available e-Bulletin.

Requirements

·   Candidates
are to submit a 3000-6000 word (excluding references) scholarly paper on a
topic that is of interest to the international sociology of sport academic
community.

·
Papers with a text of over 6000 words will not be considered.

     Papers must be original, ie not submitted elsewhere.

·

     Authors are to submit a separate cover page that contains the title of the paper and
the full contact information of the author.

·
The author’s identity must not be recognizable in the text.

·
Authors must be graduate students at the time the paper is submitted.

·
Authors must be members of ISSA at the time the paper is submitted.

·
Authors are to submit a letter, signed by their academic advisor, verifying graduate
student status.

·
Authors are to follow a style consistent with the publication guidelines for the
International Review for the Sociology of Sport.

·   Articles should predominantly reflect the research work of the student. Limited
contributions (e.g., general feedback) from supervisors are acceptable.
However, articles in which supervisors have been significant involved (e.g.,
offered major contributions in data analysis or writing), will not be
considered eligible.

·
Papersshould be submitted electronically (in Microsoft Word format attachment) to Billy
Graeff at [email protected]

·
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the winner will be notified by no later than April
21, 2026.

ISSA reserves the right not to grant an award in the event that none of the submitted papers meet the award criteria.

ISSA Graduate Paper Award Winners

2026 – Jyväskylä, Finland

Winner
Ana Cikač (Institute for Kinesiology Research, Koper and University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) Beyond Individual Responsibility: Rethinking Physical Activity And Inactivity Through Lived Experience

and

Honourable Mention
Alana Richardson (University of Cologne) Money Talks: An exploration of the impact, challenges and tensions of implementing an unrestricted fund in girl-focused sport for development and peace

2025 – Seoul, South Korea

William Ferraz de Santana (University of Florida, USA) “I Don’t Know Where to Report What Happened”: A Study on Preventing Harassment and Abuse in Cheerleading

2024 – ISSA 2024 Virtual

Joint winners
Eun Jung (Queen’s University, Canada)
“Constructing healthy bodies in polluted air: The illusive purity of school gyms, air quality technologies, and ‘modern’ South Korea”

and
Junbin Yang (University of Maryland, USA)
“Muddying the Waters of Normalized Bodies: Toward a Rhizomatic Assemblage that Matters.”

2023 – Ottawa, Canada

Nikolaus Dean (University of British Columbia, Canada)
“I Want to Change Minds and Destroy Stereotypes”: Exploring Wheelchair Motocross Rider Portrayals on Instagram

2020 – Not Vina del Mar, online

Bethany Geckle (University of Otago)

“Failure for the Future: Queering Skateboarding and Making Space”

2019 – Dunedin, New Zealand

Froujke Smit (Utrecht University)

“Welfare and child rights of young commercially sponsored action sport athletes.”

Previous Graduate award winners