Kenneth Harwood Outstanding Dissertation Award
The Kenneth Harwood Outstanding Dissertation Award is an academic prize awarded each year by the Broadcast Education Association for the best doctoral dissertation in field of broadcasting and electronic media. The prize was established by Kenneth Harwood, Professor at the University of Houston and a former President of the BEA. The award offers $1,000 for the outstanding Ph.D. dissertation in broadcasting and electronic media. The award was established through gifts started by Professor Harwood and a donation from a friend of BEA.
As part of our 60th anniversary celebration in 2015, BEA recognized Kenneth Harwood and his annual Harwood Dissertation Award. We want to ensure its positive influence on the lives of newly minted electronic media Ph.D.’s by creating a permanent endowment. Thanks to the support of Taylor & Francis, BEA’s past presidents, board of directors and countless members, BEA continues the campaign.
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The 2023 Kenneth Harwood Outstanding Dissertation Call for Nominations.
The submission deadline is January 15, 2023.
Harwood Award Recipients
2022 – Danielle Deavours, University of Montevallo; Not Just What You Say, But How You Say It: Neutrality of Nonverbal Behavior of Journalists During Crisis Coverage
2021 – Yonatan Tewelde, Ohio University; Chatroom Nation: an Eritrean Case Study of a Diaspora PalTalk Public
2020 – Cristi Eschler-Freudenrich, Oral Roberts University; What Was Left on the Cutting Room Floor: Rhetorical Themes of Race in Oral Roberts’ 1956 Crusade Sermons
2019 – Flora Khoo, Regent University; Innocence Killed: Recruitment, Radicalization and Desensitization of the Children of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
2018 – Julia Largent, McPherson College; Documentary Dialogues: Establishing a Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Documentary Fandom-Filmmaker Social Media Interaction
2017 – Ginger Blackstone, Harding University; “The Worst of Times”: The Prevalence and Power of Fear in Television News
2016 – Melinda Michele Krakow, University of Utah; Telling Stories for Cervical Cancer Prevention: The Impact of Narrative Features and Processes on Young Women’s HPV Vaccination Intentions
2015 – David Crider, Temple University; Constructing and Performing an On-Air Radio Identity in a Changing Media Landscape
2014 – Lauren Bratslavsky, University of Oregon; From ephemeral to legitimate: An inquiry into television’s material traces in archival spaces, 1950s-1970s
2013 – Shane Tilton, Ohio University; First year students in a foreign fabric: A triangulation study on Facebook as a method of coping/adjustment
2012 – Beth C. Fratkin, University of Utah; The Impact of Federal Communications Commission Practices on Communication Policy Making 2001-2004: An Investigation of the Policy Shift From Public Service Idealism to Market Forces Pragmatism
2011 – Joy Chavez Mapaye, University of Alaska, Anchorage; Viral Viewers: Examining Parasocial Interaction on Local TV News Web Sites
2010 – Pamela Hill Nettleton, Marquette University; Rescuing Men: The New Television Masculinity in ‘Rescue Me,’ ‘Nip/Tuck,’ ‘The Shield,’ ‘Boston Legal’ and ‘Dexter’
2009 – Shawn VanCour, University of Wisconsin; The Sounds of ‘Radio’: A Cultural History of Radio’s Aesthetic Definition as a Broadcast Medium for Aural Communications in 1920s America
2008 – Ronald J. “Noah” Arceneaux, University of Georgia; Department Stores and the Origins of American Broadcasting, 1910–1931
2007 – Mary McIlrath, University of California, Santa Barbara; Children’s cognitive processing of internet advertising
2006 – Kevin D. Williams, University of Georgia; How Violence and Frustration in Video Games Affect Aggression
2004 – Tanja Estella Bosch, Ohio University; Radio, community and identity in South Africa: A rhizomatic study of Bush Radio in Cape Town
2003 – John Armstrong, University of Utah; Localism, Community, and Commercial Television, 1948-1960: A Value Analysis
2002 – Jacob J. Podber, Ohio University; Radio’s Development in Rural America
2001 – Paul Haridakis, Kent State University; The Role of Motivation in Policy Considerations Addressing Television Violence
2000 – Vic Costello, University of Tennessee; Interactivity and the ‘Cyber-Fan’: An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet
1999 – Matt Jackson, Indiana University; Controlling Technology: Internet Service Providers and Copyright Liability
1997 – Patricia F. Phalen, Northwestern University; Information and Markets and the Market for Information: An Analysis of the Market for Television Audiences
1996 – Steven D. Classen, University of Wisconsin; Broadcast Law and Segregation: A Social History of the WLBT-TV Case
1994 -Michael Edward Lenert, The University of Texas; The paradox of public: The public and the public interest in communication technology regulation in the United States, 1934 – 1988