Cambridge University Press Awards for Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship

About this program

The Social Policy Association, in partnership with Cambridge University Press, annually presents awards for excellence in social policy scholarship—one prize for each SPA journal (Journal of Social Policy; Social Policy & Society; Journal of International & Comparative Social Policy). Each winning article receives up to £100 of Cambridge University Press books (shared among joint authors), three months’ free access to the article, and a one‑year digital subscription to the journal (all co‑authors receive article access and subscription). Eligible applicants are authors of articles published in the previous year’s volume of the relevant journal; shortlists of up to four articles per journal are selected by a sub‑committee chaired by the SPA Awards Officer, with journal editors, Editorial Board members and SPA Executive Committee members who published that year excluded from judging. Assessment emphasizes scholarly excellence and boundary‑challenging insight, engagement with the journal readership, contribution to research/teaching/practice/theory, methodological rigour and evidence base, and uses quantitative and qualitative indicators of interest (e.g., downloads, citations).