CCF 2026 Awards for Outstanding Family Public Scholarship

The Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) is pleased to announce our 2026 Media Awards for Outstanding Family Public Scholarship.

These awards honor the outstanding contributions of our membership to the public understanding of contemporary family issues. The deadline for nominations is July 31st, 2026. See below for the specific 2026 awards.

This year’s awards will be presented at the Council on Contemporary Families Policy and Public Scholarship Workshop, to be held at the University of Utah on October 2nd, 2026. 

We are excited to honor the CCF members who work to increase public understanding of contemporary family issues. 

Nomination and Submission Procedure

CCF members are encouraged to submit self-nominations or nominations of other members. To nominate, please complete the following form:

CCF 2026 Media Awards for Outstanding Family Public Scholarship - Nomination Form

Letters of nomination should be no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, but may include links to material describing public scholarship efforts. 

Deadline for Nominations

Nominations must be received by July 31st, 2026, at 11:59 PM MDT.

Winners will be notified in September 2026. Awards will be presented at the Council on Contemporary Families Policy and Public Scholarship Workshop at the University of Utah on October 2nd, 2026. Winners are invited to accept their awards in person.

Awards

Graduate Student Public Scholar

• Contributions to public scholarship (broadly defined), including pieces authored or coauthored solely by students, are eligible; faculty co-authorship is not allowed. Eligible student authors include master’s and pre-doctoral student members of CCF who are currently enrolled in a graduate program, or who have graduated no earlier than December of the preceding award year. The contribution(s) should have appeared within the past two calendar years (e.g., a submission nominated in 2026 may have been published anytime in 2024 or later).
• Submission: Letter of nomination no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, but may include links to material describing public scholarship efforts. Self-nominations encouraged.

Public Scholarship Award

• This award is granted to the CCF member or group of members who have made exemplary contributions to advance the public understanding of family research (broadly defined) and scholarship among the general public through contributions to non-academic publications. The contribution(s) should have appeared within the past two calendar years (e.g., a submission nominated in 2026 may have been published anytime in 2024 or later).
• Submission: Letter of nomination no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, but may include links to material describing public scholarship efforts. Self-nominations encouraged.

Lifetime Achievement Award

• This award recognizes a career or a long period of contribution (designed to consider an awardee’s corpus of work as a whole). The primary criterion for the award is major intellectual contributions, theoretical or empirical, within the field of family research (broadly defined). Members of CCF whose scholarly work over their career makes a significant contribution to the field of family research are eligible for this award.
• Submission: Letter of nomination no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, but may include links to material describing public scholarship efforts and CV (self-nominations encouraged).

We look forward to receiving your submissions!