Description

The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group (HMGSG) encourages students to participate in a competition for papers on medical-health geography. 2008-9 was the maiden year for this event. The purpose of the competition is to promote written scholarship by students in this field. Papers are invited from current undergraduate as well as master's level students on any medical-health, disability and /or health systems related topic. Papers will be judged by the HMGSG Awards Committee on several criteria: originality, scholarship, organization, appropriate use of methodology, and written composition.

Eligibility

Papers officially completed in the 24 months prior to the submission deadline are eligible, provided that they have not been previously considered for the competition. Membership in the HMGSG or AAG is not required for eligibility.

Submission and Review

Students planning on submitting a paper for the upcoming round must first submit a 250-word abstract as an attachment electronically to the Awards Committee Coordinator (see below) by 2 November 2009. The abstract must be a Microsoft Word document, double-spaced, at least 11-point font size and at least one-inch margins. Please insure that the purpose, methodology, and findings of the research are clearly stated in the abstract. The Committee will review the abstracts and finalist(s) will be notified by 20 November 2009.

Each finalist will be asked to submit to the Committee Coordinator a paper no longer than 5,000 words (double spaced, excluding tables, references, etc.). The paper must be written by a single author, and should adhere to the same format rules as the abstract. The paper(s) will be due by 1 March 2010. The Committee will then read the paper(s) and determine if an award is to be made.

Currently, the Student Paper Coordinator is:

In the email messages accompanying the submissions, please include the following information: full name, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, department and university affiliation, name of advisor or mentor, and title of the paper.

The winner of the award will be announced at the HMGSG business meeting as well as the AAG Award Luncheon, and will receive a ticket to the Luncheon and a monetary prize of $100. The results of the competition will be published on the HMGSG website, and the winner will take their spot at the top of the list of past winners.

Past Winners

2009 Christine Chung, Macalester College
Risk factors of young females to HIV/AIDS in Jamaica