Presented each year for the best article(s) appearing in the Western Journal of Communication. Criteria are:

1. Significance of the article's contribution to the literature of the discipline.
2. Level of response the article has elicited from other scholars and teachers.
3. Substantive importance and methodological rigor—significance of the topic and elegance and thoroughness of the study's method.
4. Substantive and/or methodological innovativeness—the degree to which the article breaks new ground.
5. Style-clarity, grace, parsimony, evocativeness of expression.

Previous Recipients

The Milton Dickens Award for Exemplary Empirical Research

This award recognizes an outstanding article in Communication Reports. The award is given at the end of each editorial term (i.e., once every three years).

Previous Recipients

Distinguished Service Award

Honors persons who have made considerable and long-standing contributions both to WSCA and to the field of communication. Recipients are honored at the annual convention luncheon.

Previous Recipients 1979-1999
Previous Recipients 2000-Present
Speeches Honoring Recipients


WSCA Scholar Award

The award recognizes sustained contribution to the study of human communication from a member of WSCA who has made a difference in the way scholars and students think about the nature, function, and scope of communication. Criteria for selection includes: 1) a sustained research program, 2) research that is theoretically grounded, 3) analytically sound, 4) advances the discipline (as indicated by citations and other evidence), and
5) includes work that has been featured in WSCA journals as well as other outlets.

Previous Recipients
Speeches Honoring Recipients

Model Communication Program Award*

The criteria for the Award are as follows:

1. Model in Teaching:  Course offerings, reaching innovations, certificates, degrees, curricular design and innovation.  How does the program integrate current and/or best practices for teaching communication in their curriculum?
2. Model in Service:  To students, the program, the institution, and/or the community.  This category includes forensic teams, service learning, internships, committee memberships, etc.
3. Model in Research and/or Creative Works:  Internal/external grants, articles, reviews, training programs and/or other methods of creating or using current research from the field of Communication Studies.
4. Effective Use of Resources:  Administrative support, integrating broader curricular and co-curricular activities, and encouraging development of specialized areas to reflect the breadth and depth of the field.

Previous Recipients