Purpose

The ABC Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation on Business Communication is awarded annually to the outstanding dissertation or thesis in the area of business communication written as part of a doctoral program.
The winning researcher will receive a plaque and a monetary award at the ABC Annual Convention in October or November of each year. In addition, the award winner will be encouraged to submit an article based on the dissertation to one of the association’s journals – the JBC or the BCQ. The winner will also receive a one-year membership in ABC.

Selection Criteria

• Contributes significantly to scholarship, research, and/or pedagogy of business communication
• Demonstrates originality of thought and careful investigation
• Uses an accepted research technique for business communication research
• Is successfully defended within the two calendar years preceding the annual convention at which the award is presented. For example, those eligible for the 2008 award would be studies defended in 2006 and 2007.
  

Nomination Procedures

Entries may be nominated by the researcher or by a nominator. Nomination letters must be received by the chair of the ABC Research Committee by June 15. Send nominations to Cynthia Ryan, Department of English, University of Alabama at Birmingham, HB 217, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1260 (cynryan@uab.edu).

Nominations

1. a letter of nomination from a faculty member on the doctoral dissertation committee or from the degree granting institution showing how the publication meets the award criteria

2.an electronic copy of a synopsis of the doctoral dissertation (no more than 20 pages in length).

Finalists for the award will be asked to submit one complete copy of the dissertation.

List of previous winners

2007   Rebecca Pope Ruark   Iowa State University

"Challenging the Necessity of Organizational Community for Rhetorical Genre Use: Community and Genre in the Work of Integrated Marketing Communication Agency Writers,"