VSSA Scholar Award

​Annual awards, up to three each year (one per discipline), have been made since 1981 in recognition of outstanding scholars in the various social science disciplines who have ties to Virginia. Traditional forms of scholarship such as published books and journal articles are typically very important in the selection process, but other forms of scholarly activity, including the application of research, can be as well.
Nominee Criteria:
  • Impact of scholarship/contribution to discipline, including: quality and impact of publications, strength of nomination letters, quantity of scholarly publications, notable presentations, external grant activity.
  • Recipients need not be members of the VSSA, but they must agree to attend the annual spring meeting and participate in the awards luncheon.
  • At the annual meeting’s plenary session, scholar award recipients will to reflect on their professional career and will be invited to submit a written version of their remarks for publication in the next volume of the Virginia Social Science Journal.

VSSA Public Service Award

This award is presented to a citizen of Virginia for outstanding service to the Commonwealth. Recipients typically have dedicated their careers to some form of public service in Virginia—longtime or significant service to the public sphere. If the nominee is an academic, his or her work should have benefitted the public arena and/or been related to public service.
Nominee Criteria:
  • Nominees need not be members of VSSA, but must agree to attend the annual spring meeting, speak at the plenary session, and attend the awards luncheon.
  • Career longevity represents an important aspect for this award.

Mario D. Zamora Distinguished Service Award

Originally known as the Distinguished Service Award, the award was renamed in honor of Dr. Mario D. Zamora, who was professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary until his untimely death in 1993. Zamora was born in the Philippines and earned his doctorate at Cornell University. In addition to serving on the William and Mary faculty, he was a University Scholar at the University of the Philippines, an Exchange Scholar at the Delhi School of Economics, a Fulbright/Smith Mundt Scholar at Cornell, a Graduate Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Cornell, and one of nine Adlai Stevenson Fellows to the United Nations selected from around the world. He served as President of the Virginia Social Science Association 1986-1987. The Mario D. Zamora Distinguished Service Award is presented to a VSSA member who has contributed to the Association in outstanding ways over a period of years. This award need not, but may be given every year (with a maximum of two such awards in any one year).
Nominee Criteria:
  • Nominee should have demonstrated both quantity (minimum of two years) and quality of service/contributions to the VSSA.
  • Recipients need not, but often will, be past or current VSSA officers or Board members.
  • Nominees must agree to attend the annual spring meeting and awards luncheon.

Best Paper Awards - Undergraduate & Graduate

For award consideration by the VSSA Student Paper Awards Committees, undergraduate and graduate students should submit their papers to: Dr. Keith Kline at [email protected].

The paper requirements for award consideration are:
(1) Maximum length (text and references): 25 standard double-spaced pages.
(2) Letter or email of endorsement from a faculty member sent to Dr. Keith Kline at [email protected].
(3) Cover page that includes the following information: name of author, title of paper, college or university,    
graduate or undergraduate student, year in school, major, phone number, email address, mailing 
address, name and email address of the faculty member endorsing the paper.
(4) Papers and support letters or emails must be received by 11:59 pm, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.