Awards

The AAPOR Award is the Association’s lifetime achievement award. It is given for an outstanding contribution to the field of public opinion research, including: advances in theory, empirical research and methods; improvements in ethical standards; and promotion of understanding among the public, media and/or policy makers.


The Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award is designed to recognize accomplishments in the fields of public opinion and survey research that occurred in the past ten years or that had their primary impact on the field during the past decade. The innovations could consist of new theories, ideas, applications, methodologies or technologies. To be considered for the award, innovations must be publicly documented. The award can be given to individuals, groups or institutions. 


The Seymour Sudman Student Paper Competition award is in memory of Seymour Sudman; it recognizes his many important contributions to AAPOR as well as his teaching and mentoring students in the survey research profession.


The Burns "Bud" Roper Fellow Award is named for the late Burns "Bud" Roper who provided a substantial bequest in his will to the Endowment Fund. Roper Fellows are people whose primary work responsibilities are related to survey research or public opinion and who have recently started their careers. They receive financial assistance to help them attend the annual conference and/or participate in conference short courses; most are first-time conference attendees.


The AAPOR Policy Impact Award was developed to acknowledge that a key purpose of opinion and other survey research is to facilitate better informed decisions. The award recognizes outstanding research that has had a clear impact on improving policy decisions, practice, and discourse, either in the public or private sectors.


The AAPOR Book Award seeks to recognize influential books that have stimulated theoretical and scientific research in public opinion; and/or influenced our understanding or application of survey research methodology. Eligibility for the AAPOR Book Award includes any book in the field that is at least three years old (to allow time for books to be read and reviewed), including any published before or during the period covered by the list of the Fifty Books That Have Significantly Shaped Public Opinion Research 1946-1995. (The books on the "Fifty Books" list have already been recognized by AAPOR and are not eligible for the annual book award.)

The AAPOR Student Travel Award was established to fund graduate students to attend the AAPOR Annual Conference. The Student Travel Awards are offered to students who are in need of financial support so that they may attend the annual conference and experience this important educational and collegial event for public opinion researchers.

The WAPOR/AAPOR Janet A. Harkness Student Paper Award  is given in memory of Dr. Harkness, distinguished cross-cultural survey methodologist. Paper topics must be related to the study of multi-national/multi-cultural/multi-lingual survey research (3M survey research), or to the theory and methods of 3M survey research, including statistics and statistical techniques used in such research.