Deadline: July 1, 2011
(recent photos of winners)

The award is given in memory of Donald Schön and in honor of his seminal work on the reflective nature of creative planning practice.

The award recognizes a paper written for a graduate course in planning, a master's thesis, or a research report which shows excellence in the writer’s personal and/or professional learning from practice and in the analysis of that learning. In addition to submissions which demonstrate reflection on the writer’s professional engagement, the Committee welcomes more theoretical papers on planning practice which use and are informed by Schön’s work.

Submissions may be student work done in pursuit of a planning master's or doctoral degree in planning at any ACSP-member school. The submission should be that of an individual student; group projects are not eligible.

The award carries a cash grant of $1000. The winning submission for 2011 will be announced in the fall and the author has the option of presenting her/his work at the 2011 annual ACSP Conference.

The Committee will accept for review only one paper, thesis or report from an ACSP member school. It is expected that the submission will be selected through a participatory process involving faculty and students. Submissions should include one copy of the document and a letter of recommendation from the program or department head indicating why the submission was selected: i.e. how it contributes to reflection in or on planning practice and learning from that reflection.

The award committee will evaluate submitted work according to its contribution to our understanding of reflective practice, to the teaching or to the diffusion of such practice in the profession and in the community. The award will be announced in Fall, 2011.

These materials should be sent before July 1, 2011 to:

Langley Keyes, Chair
ACSP Schön Award Committee
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 7-337
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge MA 02139
lkeyes@MIT.EDU