The Hörmann Prize for the Best Sociology Papers on Hawaiʻi

The Department of Sociology is fortunate to have an endowment honoring Dr. Bernhard Hörmann, who was an important sociologist during his 33-year career in our Department, especially research, writing, and teaching about ethnicity, ethnic cultures, and religion in Hawaiʻi. Professor Hörmann also had a life-long interest in China, where he was born of missionary parents. The purpose of the endowment is to provide awards to students for their papers, especially those that exemplify the interests of Professor Hörmann.

Award(s) in the amount of $500 for undergraduate students and $750 for graduate students will be given each semester to the author(s) of the best undergraduate and graduate paper(s), written for a Sociology course at any campus in the UH system, meeting the following criteria:

  1. The paper is required to have a focus on sociological analysis of the social structures and culture of Hawai‘i. Papers that offer a comparative analysis of Hawaiʻi with other Asia-Pacific societies will also be accepted.
  2. The paper should be type-written, double-spaced, preferably not more than 10,000 words in length.
  3. The student or course instructor will be responsible for submitting a paper without the student’s name on the paper. For course instructors, it is advisable to secure the student’s permission before submitting a paper on the student’s behalf. A sealed envelope that contains a title page of the paper should be submitted with the paper, and the title page should include the paper’s title, the student’s name, address, email address, telephone number, and enrollment status (undergraduate or graduate) in addition to the course title, semester, and year when the paper was completed. Papers are eligible for consideration for a two-year period following original preparation, but may be submitted only once. Up to three students may co-author a paper and share the prize award.
  4. All papers are to be submitted to the office of the Department of Sociology to be placed in the mailbox for the Undergraduate Studies Committee chair (for the undergraduate award) or the chair of the Graduate Studies Committee (for the graduate award). An announcement will be sent out to instructors each semester, and instructors will announce the award in their courses. The deadline for paper submission will be the day that final grades are due each semester, although papers will be accepted before the due date.

Undergraduate student papers will be judged by the Hormann Prize Committee, which is a subcommittee of the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Graduate student papers will be judged by the Graduate Studies Committee. The number of awards made each year may vary at the discretion of the committees. Unless the award committees decide to withhold the award in any given year, an appropriate public announcement of the winners will be made. The Department reserves the right to publish the winning paper(s) in Social Process in Hawai′i or a similar journal, with the author’s permission.