Awards

Deadline for applications: 31 October 2025

Description: The goal of this $1000 award is to promote participation of postdoctoral scholars to travel to the American Beekeeping Research Conference. Postdoctoral researchers, in particular, have limited opportunities to apply for travel support at this most crucial time in their career, and this will allow them an opportunity to network with their peers contributing to their professional development.

The $1000 award is to support travel for one post-doctoral researcher to attend ABRC. Awardee will also receive complimentary conference registration. Postdoc applications will be rated within their peer group. The winner is expected to give an oral presentation of their submitted work and are required to attend the AAPA business meeting during the conference.

Eligibility: Nominees must have an active AAPA membership to be eligible for this award. Any post-doctoral researchers from an accredited University or government laboratory within North America conducting work related to Apis are eligible.

Application requirements: Each application must include a single PDF with the following documents:

1. Title page including name, contact information and career stage for application (Postdoc);
2. Curriculum vitae;
3. One one-page letter of recommendation in support of the application, indicating how this award will benefit the applicant and explaining why the applicant should receive this award (should be sent as a separate PDF); and
4. Statement of Significance (not to exceed one page, 12 pt font, 1- inch margins) containing the following:
   • A summary of the research planned to present at ABRC
   • The scope and importance of the research that you propose to present
   • How attendance at ABRC will benefit your professional development
   • How participation will benefit AAPA, ABRC attendees and apicultural science

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. The scope and importance of the applicant’s research to be presented at the conference, with priority given to research that has not been previously presented at ABRC.
2. How the applicant’s attendance and participation at the conference will benefit their professional development and advance the field of honey bee research.
3. The applicant’s full Curriculum Vitae and letter of recommendation.

Submission Information: Applications and letters of recommendation should be sent to chair of the AAPA Awards Committee. Please include “Project Apis m. Postdoctoral Travel Award” in the subject line.

Award administration: Funds can be used toward travel and lodging costs and reasonable per-diem expenses. AAPA will process complimentary registration upon announcement of the winner, but all other expenses will be reimbursed by the AAPA Secretary upon completion of the conference and submission of documentation of paid expenses (up to
$1000).

Deadline for applications: 31 October 2025

Description: The goal of the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) Graduate Student Travel Award is to promote participation of graduate students to travel to the American Beekeeping Research Conference. Students have limited opportunities to apply for travel support at this most crucial time in their career, and this will allow them an opportunity to network with their peers contributing to their professional development.

The AIA sponsored award will grant $1000 to support travel for one graduate student to attend ABRC. Awardees will also receive complimentary conference registration. The winner is expected to give oral presentations of their submitted work and are required to attend the AAPA business meeting during the conference. Since these talks will be highlighted in the program, the graduate student receiving this award cannot participate in the Student Paper Award competition.

Eligibility: Nominees must have an active AAPA membership to be eligible for this award. Any post-doctoral researchers or graduate students from an accredited University or government laboratory within North America conducting work related to Apis are eligible.

Application requirements: Each application must include a single PDF with the following documents:

1. Title page including name, contact information and career stage for application (master’s, PhD);
2. Curriculum vitae
3. One one-page letter of recommendation in support of the application, indicating how this award will benefit the applicant and explaining why the applicant should receive this award (should be sent as a separate PDF)
4. A Statement of Significance (not to exceed one page, 12 pt font, 1- inch margins) containing the following:
   • A summary of the research planned to present at ABRC
   • The scope and importance of the research that you propose to present
   • How attendance at ABRC will benefit your professional development
   • How participation will benefit AAPA, ABRC attendees and apicultural science

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. The scope and importance of the applicant’s research to be presented at the conference, with priority given to research that has not been previously presented at ABRC.
2. How the applicant’s attendance and participation at the conference will benefit their professional development and advance the field of honey bee research.
3. The applicant’s full Curriculum Vitae and letter of recommendation.

Submission Information: Applications and letters of recommendation should be sent to chair of the AAPA Awards Committee. Please include “AIA Graduate Student Travel Award” in the subject line.

Award administration: Funds can be used toward travel and lodging costs and reasonable per-diem expenses. AAPA will process complimentary registration upon announcement of the winner, but all other expenses will be reimbursed by the AAPA Secretary upon completion of the conference and submission of documentation of paid expenses (up to
$1000).

Past Recipients of the Student Travel Award

Deadline for applications: 31 October 2025

Description: This $1000 award is given to promote outstanding research contributions by students in the field of apiculture. The scholarship will consist of one $1000 stipend in recognition of a student’s distinguished record of research and scholarly efforts. Depending on the quality and number of applications, awards may be separately granted to PhD, master’s and undergraduate students. Applications of students in different degree programs will be rated within their peer groups. Recipients of this award will be ineligible for future AAPA Exceptional Student Awards for the same degree program (undergraduate, master’s or PhD). Receiving this award does not prevent eligibility for the other AAPA awards (for e.g travel or extension awards) or this award in a future degree program. However, each recipient may receive only one award per year. The recipient will be honored at the next year’s AAPA conference and highlighted in the program if they are able to attend.

Eligibility: Nominees must have an active AAPA membership to be eligible for this award. Any undergraduate or graduate students from an accredited University or government laboratory within North America conducting work related to Apis are eligible as long as they have not received their degree or terminated studies more than 12 months prior to submitting their application.

Application requirements: Each application must include a single PDF with the following documents:

1. Title page including name, contact information and degree program for application (undergraduate, master’s, PhD)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Title, summary of the student’s research and its significance (not to exceed two pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, 1-inch margins)
4. Two letters of recommendation supporting the independent role the applicant displayed in their research and highlighting any scholarly achievements (should be sent separately as PDFs)
5. No more than three of the following supporting documents–reprints of publications, submitted manuscripts, abstracts from conference presentations, or abstracts of theses or dissertations.

Submission Information: Applications and letters of recommendation should be sent to the chair of the AAPA Awards Committee. Please include “Project Apis m. Exceptional Student Award” in the subject line.

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Research overview (30 pts)
• Research impact (10 pts)
• Professional and community service (20 pts)
• Recommendation letters (10 pts, 2 letters are required)
• Scholarly achievements/publication record (20 pts)
• Application quality/format (10 pts)

Past Recipients of the Exceptional Student Award

Deadline for applications: 31 October 2025

Description: The goal of this $1000 award is to support the development of extension activities. Extension educators, students and post-docs usually have limited opportunities to apply for smaller amounts of money they sometimes need to successfully complete their activities, yet it is clear that extension and outreach activities are crucial for providing research-based education to stakeholders and the public. This will be an award UP TO $1000 to support purchase of supplies or for assistant salaries plus benefits for extension or outreach activities or development of extension and outreach materials. Travel-related costs or overhead/indirect costs will not be supported with this award.

Eligibility: You must have an appointment (can be a student, postdoc, faculty, etc.) at an accredited University or in a government laboratory within North America conducting work related to Apis at the time of award application. Awardees must be active members of AAPA.

Submission Information: Please send your proposal as a single PDF to chair of the AAPA Awards Committee. Include “Project Apis m. Extension Award” in the email header.

Award administration: Funds will be disbursed by the AAPA Secretary to the recipient after the announcement of the awards. A final report, including documentation and justification of funds spent will be due to the awards committee a year after a disbursement. Any funds that remain unspent after 1 year will be returned to the AAPA Secretary. The report will be shared with the membership unless the awardee chooses to present on their efforts at the annual conference

Grading rubric 

Proposals will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Significance/importance of proposed work (40 points)
• Quality of the proposal (clear objectives/methods) (40 points)
• Strength of the recommendation letter (10 points)
• Likelihood of success (10 points)
• Grading rubric scores and constructive comments from judges will be sent back to applicants upon request after awards have been announced.

Application Package Instructions

All materials should be double spaced, written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with one inch page margins. The application should have a header with the applicant’s name and the page number on each page. All materials should be submitted as a single PDF and incomplete packets may not be considered for the award. Each application package should include:

1. Title page with the: name, position, institutional affiliation, mailing address, email address, and phone number(s) of the applicant.
2. A summary of the extension activity or program (not to exceed two pages). The summary must include objectives, significance, methods, and references (references may be excluded in the two-page limit). Objectives should be realistic goals which can be accomplished within the one-year funding period, or a clear explanation of how this award would fit into already established/ongoing projects. The significance section should include the estimated number of people to be reached by this activity, as well as which different types of stakeholder/public audience would be engaged. Methods should be clearly and concisely communicated, and preferably with well-supported references.
3. Budgets and budget narratives (not to exceed one page): This is the estimated activity cost and explanations of these costs. Please include any other funding which you have already secured or applied for.
4. A Curriculum Vitae of the applicant (not to exceed four pages).
5. Up to two letters of recommendation (each letter not to exceed two pages): One letter is recommended to be written by a vested stakeholder group. Student applicants should have one letter from their advisor providing support for the proposed project and the associated time commitment.

Past Recipients of the Extension Activities Award