Grants>Essay Award

Request for Submissions: American Psychiatric Association, Division of Research Early Career and Senior Scholar Health Services Research Awards

The American Psychiatric Association, Division of Research supports several awards in the area of Health Services Research. These awards are designed to promote health services research, support young investigators in their research efforts, and recognize significant contributions to the field.

The APIRE Early Career Award provides $500 and an honorary plaque to awardees and is given in recognition of a significant paper in the field of Health Services Research published by a young researcher. The Senior Scholar Health Services Award provides $1,000 and an honorary plaque in recognition of distinguished career contributions to Health Services Research.

The Early Career Award recognizes the best nominated paper published during the past year by an early career psychiatrist (less than 40 years of age or within 5 years of completion of training).

The Senior Scholar Award recognizes singular or sustained research accomplishments by a researcher beyond early career status which have made an important contribution to the field of mental health services research.

Nomination/Application Procedures:
Nominations for both awards can be either from the individual or a colleague in the field, such as a department chairperson, division chief, or other health services researcher.* While the proposed applicant must be an APA member, the nominating individual need not be a member and may be from any discipline. The nomination letter should succinctly indicate the contributions that are the basis for the nomination, and the nature of the relationship of the nominator and nominee. A curriculum vitae of the nominee should accompany the letter, along with the nominated paper (for the early career award) and 1-2 papers of greatest significance (for the senior scholar award). Please note that application materials should be submitted electronically.

* Applicants must be notified of their nomination by nominator.

Selection and Conditions of the Award:
Awardees will be selected by the APA Committee on Health Services Research, Grayson Norquist, M.D., Chair. The awards will be presented at the Health Services Research Breakfast which is held in conjunction with APA's Institute for Psychiatric Services (IPS) meeting. The 2012 IPS meeting will be held in New York, NY from October 4-7, 2012. Please note that these awards do not cover any travel expenses to the meeting.

Deadline: August 31, 2012

For submission or further information, please contact:

Harold Goldstein, Ph.D.
Early Career and Senior Scholar Health Services Research Program
American Psychiatric Association, Division of Research
1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1825, Arlington, Va. 22209-3901
Phone: (703) 907-8623
E-mail: goharold@psych.org

American Sociological Association Graduate Student Paper Award: Aging and the Life Course

This annual award honors the outstanding paper written by a graduate student (or students) member(s) of the Section on Aging and the Life Course, as determined by the Graduate Student Paper Award committee. Papers authored or coauthored solely by students are eligible; faculty co-authorship is not allowed. Eligible student authors include master's students and pre-doctoral student members of the section who are currently enrolled in a graduate program or who have graduated no earlier than December of 2011.

Unpublished, under review, accepted, or published papers are eligible. If published, the paper should have appeared within the past two calendar years (e.g., a paper nominated in 2012 may have been published anytime during 2011 or 2012). The nominated paper should be journal-length (35 pages maximum) and in the format used by the American Sociological Review. Only one award will be given. All nominations are due by March 1, 2012. Self-nominations are encouraged. To be nominated send a hard copy and an electronic version of the paper to the Chair of the Graduate Student Paper Award Committee. The award consists of $250 presented to the winner at the Business Meeting of the Section, held during the annual ASA meeting.

Nominations for the 2012 award should be sent to:

Professor Teresa Cooney
Chair, SALC Graduate Student Paper Award Committee
Department of Human Development & Family Studies
314 Gentry Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211-7700
E-mail: cooneyt@missouri.edu

Call for Submissions: 2012 Sarah Weddington Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights

Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) Law School Initiative invite submissions for the seventh annual Sarah Weddington Writing Prize.

The theme this year is “Legislating Stereotypes: Reproductive Rights Rollback in the States.”

LSRJ & CRR seek student scholarship that focuses on the ways that recent state legislation relies on negative stereotypes about gender, race, poverty, and sexuality to strip away reproductive rights. Examples of false stereotypes used to justify reproductive oppression include: women of color as irresponsible (“welfare queens”); undocumented immigrants as hyper-fertile (“anchor babies”); gays and lesbians as unfit role models for children; women as weak, vulnerable, incompetent decision makers, and in need of special protection; adolescent and teenage sexuality as reckless; and abortion providers as economically motivated to exploit women.

Examples of legislated (or legislation-supported) reproductive oppression include: the annual renewal of the Hyde Amendment; exclusion of new and undocumented immigrants from health insurance exchanges and Medicaid; attempts to defund Planned Parenthood; the proliferation of and state funding for Crisis Pregnancy Centers; mandatory waiting periods, physician statements, and ultrasounds for abortion; TRAP laws regulating clinics and limiting patients’ access; race- and sex-selection bans; curtailing health insurance coverage for reproductive health services; attempts to take away birthright citizenship; drug-testing of welfare recipients; prosecution of pregnant women and mothers battling substance abuse; resistance to making the HPV vaccine more accessible to minors; and laws allowing the denial of reproductive services on the basis of conscience.

We encourage writing that amplifies lesser heard voices, applies an intersectional approach to legal thinking, offers anti-essentialist analysis, and/or suggests innovative solutions that take into account the practical realities and the lived experiences of the people affected by various forms of subordination and reproductive oppression.

Papers should have a domestic focus, but may draw on international materials such as human rights treaties, international legal norms, and comparative law, in addition to U.S. statutory law and regulation and/or constitutional case law. Authors are asked to apply a reproductive justice lens and/or human rights framework to their analyses of the issues. To learn more:

-- What is Reproductive Justice?: http://lsrj.org/orientation/
--Reproductive Rights as Human Rights:
http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/RRareHR_final.pdf
-- Previous winning submissions: www.lsrj.org/awards/#writingprize

Papers must be at least 20 pages in length (not including footnotes), double-spaced in 12-point font with footnotes in 10-point font, conforming to Bluebook citation format. Only original scholarship by current law students or 2011 graduates will be accepted. Papers submitted for publication elsewhere will be considered, but will be ineligible for first place if published elsewhere. Papers already contracted for publication as of March 2012 will not be accepted. Winners will be selected by an outside panel of legal and academic judges. Send your submission (in Word format as an email attachment) to submissions@lsrj.org by 5:00pm PST on Monday, March 5, 2012.

The 1st place winning submission will be published in New York University School of Law’s Review of Law and Social Change. Winning authors will receive cash prizes: $750 (1st place), $500 (2nd place), or $250 (3rd place) and have the opportunity to be published in the Reproductive Justice Law & Policy SSRN e-journal.

Massage Therapy Foundation Student Case Report Contest

The Massage Therapy Foundation is delighted to invite you to participate in our Student Case Report Contest. This contest fosters an opportunity for students to develop research skills by conducting their own research case report in which they will summarize their results in the format of a professional research paper. Top-rated reports will receive recognition in the way of publication opportunities and cash rewards. This educational event also provides research acclaim for the host schools. Please see the Foundation’s Mission and Goals at www.massagetherapyfoundation.org.

Reports must be submitted online through www.massagetherapyfoundation.org by March 1, 2012

Students must report on independent clinical interventions on one client with guidance from a Case Report Supervisor and/or a Clinic Supervisor. This includes doing a literature review on the presenting condition or client goal; creating and implementing a treatment plan in accordance with the literature, the needs of the client, and the students’ expertise; writing up the results; discussing the implications of the outcomes; and offering suggestions for future study. Because a case report is on one client only we will not accept a case series on multiple clients. Submissions of this type will not be scored by the reviewers.

SCHOOL AND SUPERVISOR ROLES
Participating massage therapy programs and their student supervisors play a crucial role in the success of this contest. In order for the student to successfully participate, the school must commit to:

• Provide a supervised clinical component as part of the school’s program, in compliance with local jurisdictional requirements.
• Provide a case report supervisor for each student entering the competition; this person may or may not be the student’s clinical supervisor.
• Promote the competition within the school.
• Create an in-house process for selecting the best three case reports produced by the school’s students. Each school can submit a maximum of three case reports to the Foundation’s case report contest review committee. The student authors of the reports must give the school permission to submit their work to the Foundation contest.

Faculty members assisting students participating in the scholarly contest may be involved in one of two roles, or may fulfill both simultaneously:

1. Clinical Supervisor (CS): This role involves collaborative management of the case with the student in accordance with generally accepted standards of practice. This function, being a standard component of the student’s clinical
education, is related yet distinct from the case report contest. If the CS is not performing the role of case report supervisor, he or she must verify to the CRS that the student’s report is an accurate reflection of the student’s clinical experience with the client.
2. Case Report Supervisor (CRS): This role involves acting as a guide and resource as the student researches and writes the case report. Note that the report must be the student’s work, and that in providing support and direction the CRS should not unduly influence the work. The CRS must sign off on the final report, attesting to its being the work of the student and an accurate representation of the student’s activities in meeting the contest’s requirements.

Logistics of the case report
• Students must conduct a minimum of five (5) massage therapy sessions with the participating client.
• It is highly recommended that massage therapy be the only new intervention in the client’s treatment plan.
• Patient confidentiality and the security of health information must be maintained. No personal identification of the student or client may be included in the report.

Student Case Report Contest Awards

Grand Prize “Gold” Award
♦ $2,500.00 cash prize for the gold award winner contingent upon the winner undergoing the peer review process for the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (IJTMB) or another peer reviewed scholarly journal by the appropriate deadline.*
♦ Up to $1,000.00 stipend each for the student winner and the faculty Case Report Supervisor to travel to the 2012 AMTA National Convention and present the findings.
♦ Invitation to submit a poster for the 2012 AMTA National Convention Poster Session.
♦ Local and national press releases announcing the award.
♦ Two personal keepsake gold plaques, one for the winning student and one for the school.

Second Place “Silver” Award
♦ $2,000.00 cash prize for the silver award winner contingent upon the winner undergoing the peer review process for the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (IJTMB) or another peer reviewed scholarly journal by the appropriate deadline.*
♦ Invitation to submit a poster for the 2012 AMTA National Convention Poster Session.
♦ Local and national press releases announcing the award.
♦ Two personal keepsake silver plaques, one for the winning student and one for the school.

Third Place “Bronze” Award
♦ $1,500.00 cash prize for the bronze award winner contingent upon the winner undergoing the peer review process for the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (IJTMB) or another peer reviewed scholarly journal by the appropriate deadline.*
♦ Invitation to submit a poster for the 2012 AMTA National Convention Poster Session.
♦ Local and national press releases announcing the award.
♦ Two personal keepsake bronze plaques, one for the winning student and one for the school.

Honorable Mention/s
♦ Links to the school website from the Foundation website, if the school has posted the case report.
♦ Local and national press releases announcing the award.
♦ Two personal keepsake certificates, one for the winning student and one for the school.

* Awards will be announced by June 2012. Student winners will have until February 28th, 2013 to complete the peer review process with a scholarly journal

For questions regarding the Student Case Report Contest please contact Alison Pittas at apittas@massagetherapyfoundation.org or 847-905-1667. and redeem their cash prize. Please note that

American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine Golseth Young Investigator Award

The Golseth Young Investigator Award, honoring AANEM Founding Member, Dr. James Golseth, is presented annually for original research in neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine. The Foundation has been funding the award since 1998.

Deadline for Submissions is March 15, 2012.

Award subject and criteria:

The award is given for original research on neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine. The research is judged based on:

Scientific merit
Methodology
Manuscript form
Candidate's contribution to the project

Additional criteria

The first author of the research project must be one of the following:

Medical student in an MD, DO, DVM, or foreign equivalent program
Resident
Fellow-in-training
Physician within 3 years following completion for residency or fellowship training

The following publication criteria also exists for the Golseth Award:

Manuscript must be offered to the editor of the Muscle & Nerve for first review.
Manuscript must follow Muscle & Nerve author guidelines and be concise (text no longer than 2500 words).

Submission Guidelines:

All of the following must be received in the AANEM Executive Office on disc or by email at meeting@aanem.org by March 15, 2012 to be considered.
Manuscript with text no longer than 2500 words, figures and references
Letter from program director certifying eligibility
Letter from candidate describing his/her specific percentage of contribution to project

The Golseth Young Investigor Award winner receives:

Round trip coach airfare up to $500 (U.S./Canada) or $1000 (international)
Hotel accommodations (up to maximum of 4 nights)
$1000 cash
Free AANEM Annual Meeting registration
20-minute time slot to present research at the AANEM Annual Meeting
Abstract published in Muscle & Nerve and Clinical Neurophysiology

For more information on this award, contact meeting@aanem.org.

Sokenbicha Essay Challenge Scholarship Contest for Students of Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Approved Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Schools

The Sokenbicha Essay Challenge is a scholarship contest for students of ACAOM approved Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine schools. The goal of the contest is to showcase the knowledge of Chinese medical practitioners with regard to botanicals and herbal medicine.

Prizes
First prize is a $4,000 scholarship and paid admission into the AAAOM Leadership Meeting and Student Conference, April 27-29, in Chicago (includes airfare and hotel). The first place winner will be recognized at the Student Conference in Chicago during the Student Caucus.

Second prize is a $1,000 scholarship. All winning essays will be printed and distributed to AAAOM conference attendees and will also be published on the Sokenbicha Web site.

Format
The essay should be 800 words max in one Microsoft Word document (the 800 words do not include the title, bibliography or footnotes). Entries must be typed and double spaced. Identifying information will be entered separately into form fields on the site to ensure blind review.

Who is eligible?
Students currently enrolled in an ACAOM approved AOM school are eligible to enter.

Essay Topic
Explain how the use of acupuncture and herbal medicine can contribute to providing mainstream American healthcare.

Judges
Judging will be completed by a panel of qualified judges. Eight members of the AAAOM SO Board will evenly divide essays and rank the top three based on the following criteria:

Comprehension

Organization

Conclusions

Creativity

Writing

Rules
Only one essay per person.

All essays are due to the Web Sokenbicha Essay Challenge Web site by February 17, 2011 at 5 p.m. PST. There is no cost to submit an essay. No late essays will be accepted.

The author’s name and identifying information should be set forth only on the form fields within the contest Web site, which include the author’s name, school, year number, address, phone number, email, school address, and school phone number. To ensure blind review, identifying information must not appear in the body of the submission itself; however, the essay title must appear in the header on each page of the essay.

Any quotations or copyrighted material used in the essay must be identified properly. Failure to identify non-original material will result in disqualification.

Essays must be written in English.

By submitting an entry, the contestant warrants that the work is original and does not violate the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity. In addition, by submitting an entry, the contestant grants permission to AAAOM, National College of Natural Medicine, Sokenbicha, and participating schools to use her or his name for publicity purposes, including, but not limited to, announcing the results of the contest.

The essay should be 800 words max (this does not include the title, bibliography or footnotes). Entries must be typed, double spaced, in one Microsoft Word document.

Sokenbicha can use, reproduce, or distribute essays for marketing purposes, but authorship will be acknowledged. The schools and AAAOM may also use, reproduce, or distribute the essays, acknowledging the author.

The decisions of the judges are final and non-reviewable.

Monies will be paid directly to the appropriate school for the winner’s tuition.

If and when more than 160 entries are submitted, AAAOM reserves the right to stop accepting entries. Please apply early and good luck!

How to Enter
The deadline is Feb.17, 2012 at 5 p.m. PST.

About Sokenbicha
Sokenbicha – Japan's leading blended tea brand – debuted in the U.S. last year. The authentically brewed teas are unsweetened, contain zero calories and combine the refreshment of water with the flavor and goodness of tea blends and natural botanicals.

2012 KaiserEDU Essay Contest

2012 Essay Contest Topic

Different elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have broad reaching implications for many sectors of the health system, including insurance coverage, public programs, costs, quality of care, technology, public health, and health care workforce.

Describe an element of the ACA that you feel will have a major impact on either health or health care (positive or negative).

Explain why you think it is important and then discuss the major challenges in its implementation as well as its likely
impact once it is put into practice.

Your essay must not exceed 1,000 words.

Prizes:

Prizes will be awarded to the top undergraduate and graduate student entries.

First Prize: $1500 and an iPad 2

Second Prize: $750

Undergraduate and graduate students will be judged separately. In addition to the monetary prizes, the winning essays will be posted on kaiserEDU.org and announced via email to subscribers of the website. The winning students' schools will also be notified.

Contest Rules*:

- DEADLINE: All essays must be submitted online by Monday, March 12, 2012, 5 p.m. EST.
- Submissions must be from students enrolled in a degree-granting program at a university or college at the time
of submission. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible.
- Entries must be in English, at least 11 pt font, and double-spaced.
- Essays must not exceed 1,000 words.
- Number each page of essay.
- References should be cited as endnotes.
- Document should be written in Microsoft Word, Text or PDF.
- Do NOT put your name on your document. You will be prompted to enter your name on the registration form
once you click the SUBMIT ESSAY button.
- Document must be formatted before submitting online. Once you submit your essay, you will not be able to edit.
- Essays submitted for consideration must be original work and must be prepared by one author only.
- Only ONE submission per person.
- Entrants will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of submission

*Failure to follow any of these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest.

Review and Evaluation:

Submissions from undergraduates and graduates are judged separately. Finalists will be evaluated by national health policy experts. Essays will be judged on policy analysis, strength of argument, creativity, and writing and style.

Call for Submissions: Council on Anthropology and Reproduction Graduate Student Paper Competition

The deadline for submission of the graduate student paper is September 15, 2012

The Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR), an interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, is pleased to announce its 12th annual award competition for the best graduate student paper on anthropology and reproduction. Submissions from all anthropological subdisciplines are encouraged.

Criteria on which the papers will be judged:

* Ethnographic richness based on original fieldwork

* Anthropological methodology

* Linkage of work to literature in anthropology and reproduction

* Effective use of theory and data

* Originality/Creativity

* Organization, quality of writing, and coherence of argument

Please remove identifying information on the paper itself. On a separate page, include your name, mailing address, email address, and school affiliation.

Papers should be double-spaced, no more than 9,000 words including references, and references should be formatted in American Anthropologist style.

Papers already published or accepted for publication at time of submission are not eligible.

The papers will be read by a committee of CAR members. The author of the winning paper will receive a cash award of approximately $250. The winner will be announced in both the CAR Newsletter and the Anthropology
Newsletter, and an abstract will be published in the CAR Newsletter.

Questions may be directed to Jill Fleuriet at jill.fleuriet@utsa.edu

Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by September 15, 2012, 11:59pm.

Please send electronic copies to:

Jill Fleuriet at jill.fleuriet@utsa.edu

K. Jill Fleuriet, PhD
Associate Professor and MA Graduate Advisor of Record
Department of Anthropology
University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Ph. 210.458.5721
Fax 210.458.7811

Call for Papers: Research Studies on Behavioral Economics Applications to Life and Health Insurance Policyholder and Annuitant Behavior

An actuary is a business professional who analyzes the financial consequences of risk. Actuaries use mathematics, statistics and financial theory to study uncertain future events, especially those of concern to insurance and pension programs. They evaluate the likelihood of those events, design creative ways to reduce the likelihood and decrease the impact of adverse events that actually do occur. Their work requires a combination of strong analytical skills, business knowledge and understanding of human behavior to design and manage programs that control risk.

In managing insurance, traditional actuarial methods use past policyholder experience in quantifying future liabilities and risks. In modeling future expectations, many assumptions need to be established that are influenced by policyholder behavior. For example, an individual's future utilization of policy benefits; when an individual might exercise an option; and when an individual might terminate the policy due to non-payment of premium or due to other reasons are just a few policyholder assumptions needed.

However, since human behavior is difficult to predict, the use of historical policyholder experience to model future policyholder behavior may not produce the most accurate results as future policyholders may not behave the same as past policyholders. For example, the historical experience used in the modeling may be under an economic environment which might be different from the future. An individual may behave quite differently under extreme conditions such as a financial crisis than the economic environment represented in the historical experience.

Behavioral economics use social and psychological factors to understand the economic decisions of individuals and can provide insights into the policyholder decision making process not available from traditional actuarial approaches. The theories might help actuaries better understand how individuals perceive value in relation to economic risk and the factors that influence a policyholder's or annuitant's decisions as well as help answer questions about how policyholders might behave under extreme economic conditions or under conditions not seen before. In addition, the theories might explain why policyholders may not select or exercise policy options that could provide them with higher benefits.

These insights can then be used to develop or refine actuarial assumptions or methodologies regarding policyholder behavior for actuarial modeling.

Case studies are provided to further illustrate some of the policyholder behavior issues that need addressing that would help actuaries reflect policyholder behavior in actuarial models.

Deferred Annuity with a Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit
Long Term Care Insurance
Universal Life Insurance with Secondary Guarantee

Content
To expand our understanding of the theory of behavioral economics and its application to life and health insurance policyholder and annuitant behavior, the Society of Actuaries' Committee on Knowledge Extension Research, Committee on Life Insurance Research and the Financial Reporting Section are issuing this Call for Papers, inviting actuaries, academics, economists, psychologists, sociologists, researchers and other professionals to explore this topic from a variety of perspectives. The organizers are seeking to compile papers that represent the latest in thinking about this topic. It is the goal of this effort that taken together, the selected papers will provide a multi-disciplinary, textured analysis of the topic.

Authors may submit either original research or expository papers. The papers have no required minimum or maximum length.

As the purpose of this Call For Papers is to provide a resource for actuaries to help incorporate policyholder behavior in actuarial modeling, the submitted papers should be written for an actuarial audience.

The following is a list of potential issues that authors may wish to consider. Please note these issues are only intended to serve as examples and are not meant to restrict potential ideas in any way.

Issues

Identify areas of actuarial practice where behavioral economics approaches are suitable (e.g. modeling variable annuity guaranteed living benefits (VAGLB) utilization) based on current needs of the actuarial profession.

Develop, recommend and/or illustrate behavioral economics approaches/methodologies which can be used to better understand policyholder or annuitant behavior (e.g. interviewing policyholder or agents to understand the process of VAGLB utilization) or an individual's behavioral aspects related to the marketing and sales of insurance and financial security products.

Provide advantages, disadvantages and limitations of each possible approach, considering factors such as legal, cultural, psychological and so on.

Develop and illustrate methods or approaches for incorporating policyholder or annuitant behavior in actuarial modeling.

Authors are also free to combine several issues when developing their abstracts.

Some examples of what we might like to see as results of a paper:

Identification of variables outside of the insurance or annuity contract that influence policyholder behavior such as: economic, social, cultural, sale process and other factors. A discussion of how these outside variables impact financial results and how their influences change as other factors change.

Factor analysis or other method/model to determine important parameters influencing embedded option exercise within an insurance or annuity contract such as universal life or variable annuity. A discussion of how the importance of a parameter varies in relationship to other parameters.

What is the impact of the proposed method/model for incorporating policyholder or annuitant behavior in relationship to traditional actuarial methods such as a comparison of the financial results/profit measures under both methodologies?

While the examples provided have had a life insurance policyholder and annuitant behavior focus, behavioral economics applications to disability, health and long term care insurance are also welcomed.

Procedure for Submission of Abstracts
Please submit an abstract or outline of your proposed paper by March 30, 2012 to:

Jan Schuh
Society of Actuaries
fax: 847-273-8556
email: jschuh@soa.org

At a minimum, the abstract submission should include a brief description of the subject of the paper, a list of key items to be covered and a brief biographical paragraph summarizing the author's experience, prior publications and presentations and contact information.

Procedure for Reviewing Abstracts
Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by a review group for their potential for presentation at an SOA-sponsored event. The exact dates and details will be decided at a later time.

Abstract submissions will be accepted, accepted subject to revision or declined. The review group is scheduled to complete its evaluation of the abstracts/outlines by May 1, 2012.

Submission of Papers
All papers must be based on accepted abstracts and submitted in a complete format no later than October 1, 2012.

The procedure for submission of papers includes the following specific guidelines:

Submissions with special publication requests should include them in the original submission.

Submissions should be made electronically to Jan Schuh at jschuh@soa.org.

Publication and Presentation
The review group, after receiving all submissions, will determine if a meeting event for presenting the papers is appropriate. Should this occur:

It is anticipated that travel and lodging expenses for authors selected to present at the event will be reimbursed, up to certain limits.
A final determination as to the number of papers invited to present will be made after all abstracts have been submitted and reviewed.
It is anticipated that all accepted papers will be published. The papers will appear in an on-line monograph and, where appropriate, in Society of Actuaries publications. Upon author request, accepted papers may also be submitted to peer—reviewed journals.

The Society of Actuaries prefers to publish all papers and to copyright all published papers without a previous copyright. However, it will work with authors as necessary for special publication situations.

The Society of Actuaries reserves the right to reject or not publish any papers not meeting the criteria and standards set by the review group.

Prizes
Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top 3 papers as judged by the review group.

First Prize - $7,500
Second Prize - $5,000
Third Prize - $2,500

The SOA reserves the right to not award any prize money if submitted papers do not meet quality standards.

Questions
Please direct any questions regarding this Call for Papers to:

Ronora Stryker, Research Actuary
Society of Actuaries
ph: 847.706.3614
email: rstryker@soa.org

Call for Applications: Sleep Research Society Young Investigator Award

The Sleep Research Society Young Investigator Award recognizes an outstanding research effort by new investigators in the field of sleep research. The basis for evaluation of candidates is a single publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The candidate should be the first author and the article must be published or officially accepted for publication by the application deadline. On the application deadline, the candidate must be within seven years of obtaining a terminal degree. Exceptions to this criterion will be considered for those applicants who feel that extenuating circumstances warrant such consideration. A letter detailing these considerations must be included with the application.

The award includes a plaque and a travel honorarium to be applied toward travel to SLEEP 2012. The plaque will be presented during a ceremony at SLEEP 2012.

To apply for the SRS Young Investigator Award, candidates must submit the following: a copy of their paper; a current CV; documentation of the date of receipt of terminal degree; and, if applicable, a letter outlining extenuating circumstances of why they should be considered for the award if they receive their terminal degree more than 7 years prior to the deadline for the award application. These documents should be submitted in a single PDF or MS Word file to Nick Cekosh, SRS Coordinator, at ncekosh@srsnet.org. If a paper is in press at the time of application, a copy of the written notification of the paper's acceptance for publication must also be included.

Applicants must provide the name of a senior investigator who will provide a letter of recommendation. The senior investigator does not need to be an author on the paper or abstract, but should be familiar with the candidate's role on the research project. The candidate is responsible for ensuring that the letter of recommendation from the senior investigator arrives by the application deadline. Additionally, a candidate must be a member in good standing of the SRS or must include a completed application for membership and fee with the award application. Repeat applications from unsuccessful applicants from previous years are allowed.

Candidates are welcome to apply for both the Young Investigator Award and the Sleep Research Society Trainee Award Based on Scientific Merit, but in the event the candidate receives the Young Investigator Award, he or she will receive only this award. Multiple Young Investigator awards may be recognized, dependent on the quality of applications.

The deadline for receipt of the Young Investigator Award is Friday, February 10, 2012.