The Hörmann Prize for the Best Sociology Papers on Hawaiʻi

The Department of Sociology is fortunate to have an endowment honoring Dr. Bernhard Hormann, who was an important sociologist during his 33-year career in our Department, especially in research, writing, and teaching about ethnicity, ethnic cultures, and religion in Hawai′i. Professor Hormann also had a lifelong 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 Hormann.

Monitary award(s) will be given for an undergraduate paper and a graduate paper. The amount of the awards for the papers are subject to change each semester. Please contact either the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee or the Chair of Graduate Studies Committee for the most current information about the amount of the award.

The Hormann Prize will be given each semester to the author(s) of the best undergraduate and graduate paper(s), written for a Sociology course in the Department of Sociology at the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. The criteria are:

1. The paper is required to have a focus on sociological analysis of the social structures and culture of Hawai‘i. Papers that offer comparative analysis of Hawai‘i 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. Please note that each nominated student must be enrolled full-time as an undergraduate or a graduate student with a declared major in sociology in the Department of Sociology at the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. For course instructors, it is advisable to secure the student’s permission before submitting a paper on the student’s behalf. Please send a pdf of the graduate student paper (without the name of the student) to the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee. For undergraduate papers, do the same, but send a pdf of the paper to the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee. 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. The deadline for paper submission for the papers will be on the last instructional day of the semester. For the undergraduate papers, the decisions about the award will be made by the day that final grades are due that semester. Papers will also 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 or authors’ permission.