The Society for Vertebrate Paleontology : Annual Meeting : Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize

Annual Meeting

Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize

The Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize recognizes an outstanding scientific contribution in vertebrate paleontology by a predoctoral student and is awarded on the basis of the scientific value of the study and the quality of the oral presentation. Learn more about Dr. Romer.

Eligibility

Candidates should hold an SVP membership for the year of competition.
A candidate can compete once for a Masters project and once for a Doctoral project. Special exceptions may be made to Doctoral students without a Masters degree who wish to compete twice for different aspects of a Doctoral project, but only if the Romer Prize Committee recognizes sufficient distinction between the two parts. See also Prize Decision.

Timing of presentation should satisfy one of the following:

Candidate enrolled in a Masters program should be in her/his second or later year of enrollment.
Candidate enrolled in a Doctoral program should be in her/his third or later year of enrollment.
Candidate who already completed the degree in question should present within a year of completion.

Only single-authored projects are considered for the Romer Prize.

Applicants cannot submit a second abstract for a regular session. They may be a junior author of additional abstracts if they do not present the paper orally. Applications that are not selected for the Romer Prize Session will be considered for a regular session.

Presented research project should satisfy the following:

It is relevant to vertebrate paleontology.
It addresses a question or a set of questions in a scientific fashion and provides results.
Results have a robust scientific implication, as judged by the Romer Prize Committee.

Submission Guidelines

ALERT! Applications for the Romer Prize are submitted through the ONLINE ABSTRACT SUBMISSION SYSTEM, not the online award submission system. Visit the SVP Online Abstract Submission System.
Romer Prize abstracts will be subject to the same review criteria as regular submissions.

The Romer Prize Committee of the SVP 69th Annual Meeting will accept a maximum of 16 submitted abstracts for competition in the Romer Prize Session.

IMPORTANT! Students whose abstracts were not selected for participation will be given the option of having their abstract either considered for a regular session or withdrawn from the program.

Do NOT e-mail, fax or mail nomination materials to the committee chair. Any materials sent by e-mail, fax or mail will NOT be reviewed.

What to Submit

Information to be submitted online:

Abstract
Cover letter
Curriculum vitae

Any questions regarding the award may be directed to Romer Prize Committee Chair David L. Fox:

David L. Fox
University of Minnesota
Department of Geology & Geophysics
310 Pillsbury Drive SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0219 USA
E-mail: dlfox@umn.edu

Prize Decision

The prize award for 2009 is $750; a winner is selected by the A. S. Romer Prize Committee based on the scientific value of the research project presented, as well as the quality of the presentation itself. It is necessary to finish the presentation early enough to allow time for questions.

All abstracts that were submitted with applications for the Romer Prize, but not selected to present in the Romer Session, will be sent to the Program Committee for consideration as an oral or poster presenter at the annual meeting. The winner of the Romer Prize is selected onsite at the annual meeting from the final pool of applicants that are selected to present in the Romer Session.

Submission Period

The Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize application period is:

Opens at 12:00 NOON, Central Time Zone USA, on Monday, January 19, 2009
Closes at 12:00 NOON, Central Time Zone USA, on Thursday, March 19, 2009

View Past Romer Prize Recipients