AEJMC is proud to recognize outstanding achievements of some of our members at the conference. View the list of AEJMC award recipients expected at the AEJMC 2025 Conference in San Francisco, CA.
AEJMC 2025 Award Winners
Standing Committee on Research Awards
Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award
- Shelly Rodgers, Missouri
Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research
- Mary Beth Oliver, Pennsylvania State
AEJMC-Knudson Latin America Prize
- The Brazil Chronicles, Stephen G. Bloom, University of Iowa (University of Missouri Press)
- Media and Politics in Post-Authoritarian Mexico: The Continuing Struggle for Democracy, Martin Echeverria and Ruben Arnoldo Gonzalez, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico (Palgrave-Mcmillan)
Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award
- Ayala Panievsky, City St George's, University of London
Tankard Book Award
- Winner: Racializing Objectivity: How the White Southern Press Used Journalism Standards to Defend Jim Crow, by Gwyneth Mellinger (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024)
- Finalist: Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America, by Kate Wright, Martin Scott, and Mel Bunce (Oxford University Press, 2024)
- Finalist: Podcast Journalism: The Promise and Perils of Audio Reporting, by David Dowling (Columbia University Press, 2024)
Standing Committee on Profession Freedom & Responsibility Awards
AEJMC Equity & Diversity Award
- College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
AEJMC First Amendment Award
- Erasmus Baxter, Freelance Journalist
- Asia Fields, ProPublica
- Julia Furukawa, New Hampshire Public Radio
Krieghbaum Mid-Career Award
- Jessica Willoughby, Washington State
Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public Service
- Geah Pressgrove, West Virginia
Standing Committee on Teaching Awards
Best Practices in Teaching Award
- First Place: Jason Porter, South Carolina for Your AI Podcast Study Buddy
- Second Place: Adam Peruta and Milton Santiago, Syracuse for Empowering Students to Critically Engage with AI in Political Messaging
- Third Place: Brett Oppegaard, Hawai’i for Journalistic Gains Through GenAI: Journalism Watchdogs Webtool Leads to Improvements in Hawaiian Language Integration in Local News and Prompts University Policy Commitments
- Honorable Mention: George L. Daniels, Alabama for "Elevating Diversity Writing Instruction in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
- Honorable Mention: Stephanie Swindle Thomas, Pennsylvania State) for "The Future is Now: Emerging Tech Emerges in Public Relations Curriculum and Career Preparedness"
Association Awards
Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development (An AEJMC and ACEJMC Award)
- Sang Jung (Sang) Kim, Iowa
Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Outstanding Early-Career Woman Scholar Award (A Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at Florida International University and the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women Award)
- Rana Arafat, City St. George’s University of London
Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education (A Minorities and Communication Division and Commission on the Status of Minorities Award)
- Jessica Retis, Arizona
Association Grants
AEJMC 2025 Senior Scholar (An AEJMC Program)
- Jon Bekken, Albright
- Melissa R. Gotlieb and Bryan McLaughlin, Texas Tech
AEJMC 2025 Emerging Scholar (An AEJMC Program)
- Alison Burns, Maryland
- Sisi Hu and Ginger Blackstone, Arkansas, Fayetteville
The NED Research Grant to Support Innovative News Audience & News Engagement Studies (A News Engagement Day/AEJMC Program)
- Finalist: Processing Election Emotions Through Ritualistic Podcast Use: Listeners’ Uses, Needs, and Perceptions, submitted by Elia Powers, Towson
- Finalist: What’s News to You? Engaging Rural Youth in Local News Conversations and Prioritization, submitted by Rosemary Avance and Andrew M. Abernathy, Oklahoma State
- Finalist: Who is Entrusted to Use Generative AI, and for What? A Conjoint Experiment on News Audiences’ Evaluations of Journalists, submitted by Ruta Kaskeleviciute, University of Vienna and Melanie Hirsch, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Urban Communication Foundation/AEJMC Awards
Gene Burd Award for Research in Urban Journalism Studies (An Urban Communication Foundation and AEJMC Award)
- Newly Paul, North Texas
- Mezabahnur (“Meza”) Masum, North Texas
Gene Burd Award for Excellence in Urban Journalism (An Urban Communication Foundation and AEJMC Award)
- Meera K, Oorvani Foundation
Scripps Howard Fund/AEJMC Awards
2024 Scripps Howard Fund Journalism & Mass Communication Administrator of the Year Award [Awarded in 2025] (A Scripps Howard Fund and AEJMC Award)
- Marie Hardin, Pennsylvania State
2024 Scripps Howard Fund Journalism & Mass Communication Teacher of the Year Award [Awarded in 2025] (A Scripps Howard Fund and AEJMC Award)
- Mark Horvit, Missouri
Kappa Tau Alpha/AEJMC Awards
Frank Luther Mott/Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award (A Kappa Tau Alpha Award)
- Margot Susca, American University for "Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy"