Awards Guidelines

First prize R4 000 Second prize R1500

Eligibility The award shall be made to a member of AEASA. The award shall be made for the best Masters thesis in the field of Agricultural Economics accepted and passed by a University in South Africa in the period after the previous Conference. This is intended to include both those submitted to Departments of Agricultural Economics and cognate departments such as Economics and Business Economics. The award shall be announced/made at the Annual Conference Dinner of AEASA. Submissions in any particular year must have been accepted and passed by the relevant university at least three months prior to the annual conference. A thesis will qualify only if at least three copies are made available to the selection committee before the prescribed date.

Procedure

The AEASA Management Committee will appoint a Selection Committee of three members, including the Convener of the Committee. The Selection Committee will invite Departmental Heads at the various Universities to submit their best thesis (one per department) for this award. Three copies shall be submitted no later than the end of June of that year. The selection committee shall decide on the best Masters thesis by majority vote.

Adjudication

Adjudication of theses is to be done in as objective a manner as possible. The selection committee will act on its’ own discretion, but will be guided by the following criteria and weights: Identification of the research problem (15%):Importance, relevance, originality, formulation of hypothesis/ problem statement. Research methods (25%): Applicability and use of analytical techniques, originality and presentation of results, factual quality. Economic concepts (25%): Knowledge of the field, use of appropriate theory, analytical rigor and logic. Results (20%): Importance of results, conclusions, and implications. Presentation (15%): Language, style, technical quality and referencing. The selection committee should also take into account any prizes awarded to the Masters thesis, whether at the university where the student graduated or any outside organisation (e.g. the S2S3 Bronze medal awarded by the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science.) 

2.AEASA AWARD FOR BEST PUBLICATION IN A PROFESSIONAL JOURNAL OR BEST PUBLISHED BOOK

First prize R3 000 Second prize R1 000

Eligibility

The Award shall be made to a member or members of AEASA. A member may receive the award for joint authorship in the case where the co-author(s) is/are not members. The award shall be announced/made at the Annual Conference Dinner of AEASA. The award shall be made for the best publication that was formally published during the 12 months prior to the Conference.

Procedure

The AEASA Management Committee will appoint a Selection Committee of three members, including the Convener of the Committee. While the responsibility to identify and submit articles to the Committee will rest with the members of the Association, the Committee may identify articles or books which could potentially qualify for the award. The Committee shall decide on prize winners by majority vote.

Adjudication

Adjudication of articles is to be done in as objective a manner as possible. The Committee will act at its’ own discretion, but will rely on an adjudication system that includes the following: Significance of research: To be considered significant the content must relate to one of the following: the economics of agriculture, environmental and natural resource economics, rural sociology, governance and public choice, community and rural development. This includes contributions in the field of business, extension, research and teaching of agricultural and rural economics. Preference is given to those articles dealing with Southern Africa. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10) Contribution to the discipline: The content should contain new developments in research and methods of analysis; apply existing methods to new situations; test new hypotheses or theories; new frameworks of analyses and application and/or present new facts or data. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10)

Quality of conclusions:

 Conclusions should be sound and useful. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10) Readability: The article must be readable and well integrated. (A mark shall be awarded out of 5) Topicality: The article should be relevant towards the issues of the day. (A mark shall be awarded out of 5) Impact factor of journal: The committee shall, where possible, determine the impact factors of journals and/or books. (The journal and/or book with the highest impact factor will receive a mark of 10 and others a mark of 5)

3.THE SJJ DE SWARDT AWARD FOR THE BEST ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN AGREKON

First prize R3 000 Second prize R1 000

Eligibility

Eligibility shall be the same as for the best published article in a professional journal or book except that in the case of this prize the article will have been published in Agrekon in the twelve months prior to the Conference. Procedure The AEASA Management Committee will appoint a Selection Committee of three members, including, ex officio, the Editor of Agrekon as the Convener of the Committee. The Committee shall decide on prize winners by majority vote.

Adjudication

Adjudication of articles is to be done in as objective a manner as possible. The Committee will act at its’ own discretion, but will rely on an adjudication system that includes the following:

Significance of research:

To be considered significant the content must relate to one of the following:

• The economics of agriculture,
• Environmental and natural resource economics,
• Rural sociology,
• Governance and public choice,
• Community and rural development.

This includes contributions in the field of business, extension, research and teaching of agricultural and rural economics.

Preference is given to those articles dealing with Southern Africa. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10)

Contribution to the discipline:

The content should contain new developments in research and methods of analysis; apply existing methods to new situations; test new hypotheses or theories; new frameworks of analyses and application and/or present new facts or data. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10)

Quality of conclusions:

 Conclusions should be sound and useful. (A mark shall be awarded out of 10) Readability: The article must be readable and well integrated. (A mark shall be awarded out of 5) Topicality: The article should be relevant towards the issues of the day. (A mark shall be awarded out of 5)

4. AEASA BEST CONTRIBUTED PAPER AWARD

First prize R6 000 Second prize R4 000 Third prize R2 000

Eligibility

The award shall be made to a member or members of AEASA. A member may receive the award for joint authorship in the case where the co-author(s) is/are not members. The award shall be made for the best paper submitted to the Contributed Paper Session of the Annual Conference. Only papers that are read at the Conference shall be eligible for the award. The award shall be announced/made at AEASA’s Annual Conference Dinner.

Procedure

The AEASA Management Committee will appoint a Selection Committee of three members, including, the Convener of the Committee. The Editor of Agrekon and the Programme Organiser of the Conference Organising Committee will, ex officio, be members of the Committee. Once the Conference Organising Committee has received all contributed papers submitted for the Conference, these will be given to the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will initiate a double blind refereeing process exactly as that followed by Agrekon, to solicit opinions on the eligibility of articles for the prize. In the final instance, the responsibility for the selection of the best 3 papers based on content (see rules for adjudication below) rests with the Selection Committee, which shall decide on the winners by majority vote.

Adjudication

The judging of contributions shall be done in two stages: Contents (50%): Contributed papers shall be judged on the merits of their contents as objectively as possible. The rules for adjudication of the Award for Articles and Publications shall serve as guidelines in this respect. Presentation (50%): The three best contributed papers in terms of quality will have been selected in the first stage (see rules on procedure above). These papers shall then be given equal weighting for the purpose of the second stage of judging, i.e. presentation. The Selection Committee will score each of the papers in terms of the merits of their presentation. The most meritorious paper shall be adjudged the recipient of the award by majority vote of the Selection Committee. The merits will include, but not be limited to: The content of the presentation, including the use of audio-visual equipment; The quality of the presentation (has the presenter communicated the content clearly); The quality of answers to questions and comments.

5. AEASA BEST POSTER PAPER AWARD

First prize R2 000 Second prize R1 000

Eligibility

The award shall be made for the best poster in the field of Agricultural Economics submitted to the Contributed Poster Session of the Annual Conference. At least one author must be a member of the AEASA. Presenters must be members of the AEASA and must be registered for the Conference. Only Posters that are presented at the Conference shall be eligible for the award. The award shall be announced/made at the Annual Conference Dinner of AEASA. Poster presentations previously presented at other meetings of professional agricultural economists will not be accepted.

Procedure

The AEASA Management Committee will appoint a selection committee consisting of three members, including the Convener of the Committee. The selection committee shall decide on the best poster by majority vote.

Adjudication

The decision on the best poster should be reached in as objective a manner as possible. The selection committee will use its’ own discretion but will be guided by the following criteria: Contents (50%): Contributed papers shall be judged on the merits of their contents as objectively as possible. The rules for adjudication of the Award for Articles and Publications shall serve as guidelines in this respect. Presentation (50%): A poster paper emphasises visual information, or information requiring a demonstration. In general, information that could readily have been presented in a contributed paper session does not work well as a poster. The Selection Committee will score each of the papers in terms of the merits of their presentation. The most meritorious paper shall be adjudged the recipient of the award by majority vote of the Selection Committee. The merits will include, but not be limited to: The contents/professional appearance of the poster (out of 5 marks); The quality of the presentation (has the presenter communicated the content clearly and logically) (out of 15); The quality to answers to questions and comments (out of 10). 

6. AEASA AWARD FOR THE BEST FINAL YEAR STUDENT IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS (To be nominated by each University in South Africa that offers agricultural economics as a major).

Award: Registration fee for AEASA conference in year following award.

Selector: Head of Department of Agricultural Economics Eligibility: Best undergraduate student in Agricultural Economics, who achieved an average mark of at least 70% in Agricultural Economics throughout the years of study.

The best students will be announced at the Annual Conference Dinner of AEASA

7. AEASA LEOPARD AWARD AEASA’s 

Leopard Award offers friends and colleagues the opportunity to honour an AEASA member in a ceremonial manner for his/her selfless sacrifices and kindred spirit in the field of agricultural economics. Hence, members of AEASA can take advantage of this opportunity to honour colleagues who are, for example, retiring from the profession. The Certificate will bear the name of the recipient of the award, the year, a replica of the AEASA emblem and the following inscription: “For contributions to agricultural economics, proposed by appreciative colleagues and friends. This award supports work in the field of agricultural economics”. The award will be made at an AEASA regional meeting and will also be announced during the AEASA Annual Conference Dinner.

Each recipient of a reward will also receive an AEASA certificate indicating the award and prize