Student Awards
The following awards are given in recognition of outstanding papers and projects completed by GSSW students each academic year:
Edith M. Davis Award
History and Criteria of the Award
Upon the retirement of Professor Emerita Edith M. Davis at the close of the 1974-75 academic year, the alumni of the Graduate School of Social Work initiated funding for an annual student award in her honor.
The award, first presented in 1976, honors a student at either the Masters or Doctoral level, who submits the best article focusing on the contribution of a minority individual or group in the Rocky Mountain region. The award-winning paper, selected by the faculty, must be suitable for publication, demonstrate a historical perspective, be related to social policy and research and have implications for social work practice.
The winner receives a certificate and check for $100.
Tommi Frank Memorial Award
History and Criteria of the Award
The Tommi Frank Memorial Award was established by the relatives, friends and former classmates of Tommi Frank, MSW '64, upon her death in August of that year. The award, first presented in 1965, is given to the student judged by faculty to have submitted the most creative and imaginative piece of writing related to social work. judging this award, consideration is given to the creation of new concepts, arrangements of concepts and/or new ways of relating knowledge to practice, profoundness of thinking and the scholarly application of such thinking to the refinement of theory and/or practice and to applicability for use in practice.
The winner receives a certificate and check for $100.
Dorothea C. Spellmann Award
History and Criteria of the Award
The faculty of the Graduate School of Social Work initiated an annual student award fund in honor of Professor Emerita Dorothea Spellmann, upon her retirement in June 1972. The award, first presented that year, honors a student whose work best demonstrates an understanding and appreciation of groups as a primary means of service with people. The student must develop a group experience for any one of several purposes, such as socialization, restoration or extension of person’s potential, or related to planning and/or administrative activities. The work must also demonstrate a measure of creativity or ingeniousness, whether in extending the group approach in familiar situations, or in exploring its use for new services.
The winner receives a certificate and check for $100.
OMNI Research Award
History and Criteria of the Award
The OMNI Research Award was established in 1996 to honor a student in the Graduate School of Social Work who demonstrates exemplary understanding of, and commitment to, social work research.
This award was initiated and funded by OMNI Research and Training, Inc., a Denver-based research firm committed to applied research in the social sciences. Papers submitted may address any or all of the following areas: review, evaluation and synthesis of research literature relevant to a social work topic; examination, proposal and/or employment of innovative research methods; and establishment of links between research and practice.
Criteria for the award include relevance to social work practice, originality, depth of analysis, clarity and excellence in writing.
Award Criteria:
- Review, evaluation, and synthesis of research literature relevant to a social work topic
- Examination, proposal and/or employment of innovative research methods
- Establishment of links between research and practice
- Originality
- Depth of analysis
- Clarity
- Excellence in writing
The winner receives a certificate and check for $100.
Ina Mae Denham Award
Description & Criteria
In 2004, the Colorado Society for Clinical Social Work created an award for the best clinical papers written by one June and one August graduate. In addition to a cash award, the students will be awarded a membership in the Colorado Society for Clinical Social Work. The papers may cover any of the following subjects:
- A clinical focus, including analysis and discussion of a clinical case
- A critical review of clinical literature related to a particular topic
- An analytic response to a clinical issue raised in a journal or book
- A discussion of different intervention modalities and applications to a particular case
- Other clinical social work topics of interest to the faculty or students.
The winners receive a $250 cash award and society membership.
Ruth Marx Stark Award for Excellence in Field Work Performance
Description
The award is made to a graduating master's student who demonstrated excellence in field work in a variety of ways: recognition of the value of being a social work professional; understanding of social work values and ethics; comprehensive problem-solving abilities; professional work habits; integration into the field agency; cultural competence; and exceptional integration of theory and practice.
The following awards are given in recognition of outstanding GSSW students:
Jean Peart Sinnock Award
History and Criteria of the Award
The Jean Peart Sinnock Award was established in 1959 and is supported by provisions of her will. Professor Emerita Sinnock died in March 1968, after a long and distinguished career in social work education. The award is made annually to a second-year MSW student who demonstrates outstanding capacity for purposeful working relationships with faculty and students and a marked capacity for leadership.
The student must demonstrate outstanding performance in the classroom, capacity of orderly thinking and the ability to think autonomously to conceptualize, articulate and communicate knowledge.
Through outstanding field work practice, the student must demonstrate the application of knowledge, showing an ability to reach out to clients or groups with genuine empathy. The student must show an integration of social work knowledge and skills, while demonstrating the values of the profession.
Above all, the student must show, through involvement in community concerns and issues, a social conscience and an active social consciousness.
This award is made to a second-year student who has demonstrated outstanding capacity for purposeful working relationships with faculty and students and a marked capacity for leadership. The student must have demonstrated outstanding performance in the classroom, capacity for orderly thinking, and ability to thing autonomously. She or he must be able to conceptualize articulate and communicate knowledge. The student must have demonstrated outstanding practice in field work and in application of knowledge. She or he must have shown the ability to reach out to clients or groups with a genuine capacity of feel for the other person and to be helpful. The student has shown an integration of the body of knowledge and skills that constitutes the program of the School. The student has evidence attitudes that demonstrate conviction about the values of the profession. Above all, the student has developed a social conscience and an active social consciousness in awareness of and participation in community concerns and issues.
The winner receives a certificate and cash prize of $250. A portion of the award is given in silver dollars, continuing the custom that began when the award was created.
Dean Emil M. Sunley Merit Award
History and Criteria of the Award
The GSSW Alumni Association established this fund to honor Emil M. Sunley, Director and Dean of the school from 1947 to 1971, when he first presented the award. It is given to a graduating master’s or doctoral student in recognition of meritorious services to the school or to the profession of social work.
The recipient is selected by the Dean, who is free to define “meritorious service” in terms of the current objectives, tasks, concerns, problem-solving activities, orientation and achievements of the school or the profession at the time of the award.
This permits the Dean a wide range of selection criteria, recognizing that the definition of "meritorious service" may change from year to year.
The winner receives a certificate and check for $250.
