The Top Dissertation Award​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Top Dissertation Award recognizes ambitious and significant scholarship in the field of mobile communication, completed in a doctoral dissertation. This yearly award honors a dissertation whose topic falls within the mandate of the Division and that are not under consideration at other ICA sections. The awards committee judges each nominated dissertation on fit with the division, topical relevance, strength of evidence, and significance of conclusions. The awards committee reserves the right to not give out an award.

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Selection Criteria:

• The importance of the problem/topic it addresses

• The strength of evidence it presents

• The significance of its conclusions

• The overall contribution of the research to the field of Mobile Communication and the relationship of the submission to the Divisions’ mission. To that end, the dissertation should focus on “the phenomenon of mobility in communication – thus being placed at the intersection of mobility, technology, and culture in human communication. While including a wide array of approaches in communication scholarship from historical perspectives to studies on future media innovations, from ethnographic to quantitative empirical approaches, from journalism studies to media effects research the common ground of the Mobile Communication Division is state-of-the-art theorizing on mobile communication as well as rigorous methodology.” (Article 2 of the Division bylaws

Eligibility Criteria:

• The dissertation must have been completed (defended and awarded) in the calendar year preceding the nomination deadline. 

Submission Requirements:

Submissions must include the following documents in a single pdf file:

• An electronic copy of the dissertation 

• A 3-5-page summary of the significant elements of the dissertation

• A letter of recommendation from the faculty advisor/supervisor.​​​​​​

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