Launch of Social Work Education Awards

In the development of its activity and pursuing its mission of promoting Social Work education in Europe, the EASSW is launching an award for educators, students, researchers, professionals, volunteers and service users which significantly contribute to an improvement of quality in Social Work Education (SWE).  The EASSW is honouring these awards to promote social development and develop high quality education, training and knowledge for social work practice, social services, and social welfare policies in Europe.

The awards consider three different categories and awards:

1. Alice Salomon Award

Award on innovative pedagogical and practice experiences in Social Work Education

2. Research Award

Award on research in Social Work education

3. Student Award

Award for social work student project or thesis

The call for submissions will be open for each category and submissions can be made until Monday the 24th of April 2023. The submission of the awards shall be submitted by the nominees themselves or by a third party. Submissions can be done using the application forms on the EASSW website or by clicking here: Alice Salomon Application Form ; Research Awards Application Form ; Student Award Application Form 

Preselection of award nominees: For each award category a maximum of three award nominees will be selected by an award judging panel including one EASSW officer, 2 EASSW Executive Committee Members and one or two EASSW members. The preselection of the nominees will be communicated on Monday the 29^th of May 2023 at 1pm, UK time.

Prize

The awards nominees will be invited to give an elevator pitch in 5 minutes of their work live or online during the bi-annual ECSWE conference 2023 from 20 until 23th of June hosted by the Social Work University School of Porto (ISSSP). One award winner will be nominated for each category during the conference by the conference attendees. A prize of 400€ and a free EASSW membership or free entrance to the next ECSWE conference in 2025 will offered to all three award winners.

The awards are an important opportunity for EASSW members to recognize individuals or teams who have made an important contribution to Social Work Education. Please consult our EASSW website for more information about the Social Work Education category awards, award winning criteria and award winning prize.

Language

The working language of the judging panel will be English. Therefore, if the original language of the submitted materials is any other, videos should be subtitled and all written material should be translated into English (for category 2 and 3, a full version of the original published article, thesis or project report should also be submitted). 

Announcement of awards and publication

The announcement of the three awards and mentions of honours will be announced during the EASSW ECSWE (European conference on social work education) bi-annual conference. Awards are presented during the opening ceremony of the Conference or later. After the conference they will be announced and published on our website, through social media or newsletters and registered on a list of award winners.

Eligibility criteria for the awards

1. Alice Salomon Award

The award will acknowledge innovation in SWE and will be attributed to innovative social work pedagogical experiences initiated by social work schools inside a school or classroom setting OR practice experiences during practice or field placements.

Experiences took place in the two years before the respective call.

Practices awarded must be innovative and unequivocally contribute to high-standards in quality of social work education and have potential impact to a broader context of pedagogical or practice experiences in social work.

The pedagogical and practice experiences in SWE are related to classroom or school settings, the social work practice or field placements. The outcome can be projects, courses, handbooks or other learning materials, modules, school activities, …

Target groups are educators, (undergraduates, bachelor, master or doctoral) students, researchers, volunteers, service users and professionals.

2. Research Award

The award will be attributed to research papers in social work education published for the first time either in an Advance Access format or in hard copy during the two years before the respective call.

Target group are academics and researchers in social work.

Papers should have been published in recognized scientific journals, with blind peer-review system, and should be focused on Social Work education. Papers to be considered must contribute, based on research, to Social Work education at one or more of the following levels:

1. Exploration of new education areas within Social Work;
2. Demonstration of innovation in Social Work education;

• Development of a significant conceptual or theoretical contribution to the field.

3. Student Award

The award will acknowledge a student thesis or project that enhances and stimulates innovation and quality in Social Work Education. The thesis or project took place in the two years before the respective call.

Target group are undergraduate, bachelor, master or doctoral students.

Project or thesis awarded must be innovative and unequivocally contribute to high-standards in quality of social work education and have potential impact on social work practice beyond the local context.

Call for submissions

All students, teachers, researchers or professionals engaged in Social Work Education are warmly invited to submit for the next call of the EASSW awards. Submitters can but should not be a member of EASSW

The call for submissions on the EASSW website will be open for each award category until Monday 24^st of April 2023.

Submissions proposals including:

1. statement in English between 700 and 1100 words arguments for awarding the experience, paper or project;
2. references to website, article, project or other outputs;
3. one or two reference persons supporting the award nomination.

If the submission implies more than one person or a team, the committee will treat them as a unity and the prize will be delivered on the same way as in the case of a single author.

Preselection and nomination

For each award category a maximum of three award nominees will be selected by an award judging panel.