The Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership at the Hobby School of Public Affairs (University of Houston) is accepting submissions for the 2025 Elizabeth Rockwell Prize for Best Article on Ethics, Leadership, and Public Policy. The first place award is $10,000. The second place award is $2,500. 

To qualify for the award, an article must have been published (online or in print) in a peer-reviewed journal during the three years prior to the award announcement. Next year’s prize will be announced in September 2025. To qualify for the upcoming award cycle, articles must have been published since September 2022. Articles that are accepted for publication but not yet published (online or in print) are not eligible.

Authors may submit their articles directly for consideration. Nominations will also be solicited from journal editors. All nominations must be received for this award cycle by August 1, 2025. Articles that were submitted for the previous year’s prize may not be submitted again. Preference will be given to articles that are less than 12,500 words including notes and references, but longer articles will be considered.

Articles should relate to ethics and/or leadership and public policy. The main criteria for the award are:

• Originality
• Scholarly excellence
• Potential to impact our understanding of real-world ethics and/or leadership relating to public policy.

The first prize winner will be invited, if possible, to present their work at the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Conference in New Orleans. The award will include an additional stipend (above the prize amount) to cover travel, hotel, food, and conference registration up to $2500.

With the permission of the authors and journals where the winning articles have been published, the EDR Center may pursue the opportunity to publish an online book of prize-winning articles every few years. The purpose will be to make scholarship on ethics and leadership in public policy more accessible to policymakers, analysts, advocates, and students.

Please submit a published copy of your article to EDRCenter@Central.UH.edu. Write Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center Prize in the subject line. Submissions will only be accepted from authors of articles and journal editors.

For more information, please contact Daniel Engster at daengste@central.uh.edu.

The Elizabeth D. Rockwell Prize for Best Paper on Ethics, Leadership, and Public Policy was previously known as the Hobby Prize.