Preliminary Nominations: due March 31
To help broaden and diversify the pool of nominees for the Health Communication Division’s annual awards, members are invited to participate in an optional preliminary nomination stage. At this stage, members may submit the name of a prospective nominee, the award, the nominee’s institutional affiliation, and email address to Immediate Past Chair Charee Thompson (charee@illinois.edu). Please submit preliminary information by March 31 to allow sufficient time for review. Full nomination packets are typically due in late May via the NCA portal (details coming soon). Self-nominations are welcome.
Click here for a PDF document detailing the award descriptions and criteria for 2026.
Members are encouraged to inform individuals they put forward. Dr. Thompson will contact each person named to invite them to self-nominate or to coordinate a full nomination packet with the original nominator. Participation in this step is not required to submit a complete nomination; full packets may be submitted with or without participating, provided they meet Division bylaw requirements and the annual NCA deadline.
Full Nominations: due late May (submission site coming soon)
Full nomination packages, unless specified, must be submitted through the NCA nomination portal (coming soon). All awardees will be recognized at the Health Communication Division’s business meeting during the 2026 NCA convention.
For questions regarding submissions, please email Immediate Past Chair Dr. Charee Thompson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, at charee@illinois.edu
Award Details
The Health Communication Division supports several awards. Two of these awards are co-sponsored with the Health Communication Division of the International Communication Association (ICA): Dissertation of the Year and the Kundrat Thesis of the Year. The Chair of ICA’s Health Communication Division posts a call for those awards each year, typically in February. The NCA Top Papers are the top scoring papers (faculty and student) submitted to the annual NCA conference. They are announced in June of each year and the recipients are formally acknowledged at the NCA Health Communication Division Business Meeting.
The Outstanding Health Communication Scholar, Dale E. Brashers Distinguished Mentor, Distinguished Book in HC, and Distinguished Article/Chapter in HC are awarded by NCA’s Health Communication Division. The Immediate Past Chair of NCA’s Health Communication Division issues a call for all four awards each year. Nominations are sent electronically to the Immediate Past Chair. All nominations are (typically) due in late May or early June.
Each award description, plus current and past winners can be found on these pages:
Outstanding Health Communication Scholar
Dale E. Brashers Distinguished Mentor
Thompson Distinguished Service Award
Distinguished Book in HC
Distinguished Article/Chapter in HC
Prestin Dissertation of the Year
Kundrat Thesis of the Year
Early Career Awards
Outstanding Contributions to Promoting Equity and Inclusion Award