The Frank P. Forward Award for Excellence in Presented Research

Awarded Annually by The Association for the Scientific Study of Religion

The Frank P. Forwood Award was created honoring the service and dedication of Frank P. Forwood, a founding member and long-time program chair of the ASSR.  He was a Professor of Sociology and Religion at the University of Louisiana—Monroe for more than thirty years.  Dr. Forwood passed away in 2007 and the Award was created in 2008 in his memory, honoring his career service to the ASSR and his many contributions to the study of religion in society.

The 2013 Forwood Award has been awarded to:

Dennis Horton 

Dennis J. Horton, Baylor University

for his paper entitled:

"Short Term Mission Trips: What the Long-Term Missions Personnel
Really Think about Them"

PAST RECIPIENTS

2012:  Todd Jay Leonard, Fukuoka University of Education (Japan)

2011:  Ben D. Craver, Wayland Baptist University

2010:  Todd Jay Leonard, Fukuoka University of Education (Japan)

2009:  Dennis J. Horton, Baylor University

2008: J. B. Watson, Stephen F. Austin State University

Award Rules:

  1. The Frank P. Forwood Award is presented annually to the author of a paper published in the current ASSR Proceedings  judged to be superior by a judge or panel of judges (or an established awards committee) appointed by the President of the Association with input from all officers of the Association considered in the selection of judge(s);
  2. The papers considered must have been submitted for publication (by the deadline for doing so) in the Annual Proceedings of the ASSR;
  3. The Association’s President, or appointed judge(s) may not receive the award in their term of service;
  4. The Award may not be granted to the same individual or co-authors in consecutive years;
  5. The criteria use to judge submissions toward the Award are as follows:
  1. The paper must make a significant contribution to the academic literature regarding the study of religion in society;
  2. Ideally, the paper should address relatively unexplored or under-explored areas within the study of religion, present new findings, fresh theoretical insights, or other information useful to the study of religion, or otherwise be of compelling, interesting, or contributory to academic pursuits within the study of religion;
  3. The paper will be judged on thoroughness of research effort, selection of topic, style of writing and presentation, readability, sourcing and factual nature, strength of argument, reasoning, and conclusions, as well as timeliness, currency, interest, and creative ability developed in the paper;
  4. Any accepted paper in the ASSR Section of the SWCRS meetings qualify whether the research effort is quantitative or qualitative;
  5. The paper must be submitted in a finished form to the editor by the deadline for acceptance for publication so copies can be forwarded to the Award judge(s) for review and decision prior to the annual meeting of the SWCRS/ASSR.
  1. The Award recipient will receive a certificate, plaque, or other token of the Award and a press release will be generated from the ASSR and forwarded to the academic institution with which the researcher is affiliated.  An announcement at the SWCRS meeting may also occur as well as a posting on the websites of both the ASSR and SWCRS.

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