March 15-18, 2026

ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Awards

Up to twenty Distinguished Student Paper Awards (DSPA) are given each year to assist students and recent graduates in presenting contributed papers at the ENAR Spring Meeting. Each winner receives a certificate, reimbursement for travel expenses up to $650, tuition waiver for one ENAR short course of choice, and an invitation to the Monday evening ENAR President's Reception. The author of the most outstanding paper also receives the John Van Ryzin Award, which includes an additional $500 prize.

Eligibility

To be eligible, a student must be an ENAR member, a degree candidate at an accredited institution in any term during 2025, and able to present the research during the ENAR Spring Meeting, March 15-18, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Reported research should be a creative application of statistical analyses to a problem, issue or policy question relevant to biometric applications, or a new statistical methodology. The student must be the first (senior) author, although the manuscript can be coauthored with a faculty advisor and/or a small number of collaborators. The paper must not be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission. Previous recipients of a Distinguished Student Paper Award from any region of the International Biometric Society and students presenting papers on the 2026 invited program are not eligible.

All required materials for the Distinguished Student Paper Award must be received by the ENAR Business Office, including the electronic submission of the manuscript (Step 1) and the abstract (Step 2) through www.enar.org, by 11:59 p.m. ET October 1, 2025. Only complete submissions that meet the eligibility requirements, follow the described guidelines, and are received by October 1 will be considered. (Please refer to the complete details of Submission of Manuscripts below.) Manuscripts are reviewed blinded (e.g. without author or institutional identification). Please be certain the text contains no such identifying information or obvious cues.

ENAR Student Paper Awards Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation

Please use the following Guidelines Checklist to confirm your manuscript is complete before submitting for participation in our ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Awards competition. If you do not meet these criteria, your manuscript may be disqualified. Out of respect for all applicants, NO EXCEPTIONS to the eligibility criteria or submission deadlines will be made. Please read these details carefully and plan ahead!

To be considered complete:

Your submission should include:

A manuscript should include:

*References are NOT included in the 15-page limit.

A manuscript should NOT include:

Review Criteria

Up to 20 award winners will be selected through review, blinded to authorship and institutional affiliation, by the ENAR Student Awards Committee chaired by 2025 ENAR Immediate Past-President Renee’ Moore.

Selection criteria will emphasize the strength of the manuscript in five areas:

Submission of Student Papers

All manuscripts and supporting documentation must be submitted No Later Than 11:59 p.m. ET October 1, 2025. You are required to complete Steps 1&2. No identifying information should be included anywhere in the paper or the filename submitted online.

STEP 1: Electronic Submission of Manuscript by 11:59 p.m. ET October 1, 2025.

STEP 2: Electronic Submission of Abstract by 11:59 p.m. ET October 1, 2025.

Initial Manuscript Formatting Review Available for Early Submitters - NEW for 2026!

For those students who submit their papers prior to September 17, 2025, you will be eligible for an initial review of your manuscript for any formatting issues. If your manuscript has an issue that would disqualify you, you’ll receive a follow up email that indicates which category the issue falls. It will be up to you to review and resubmit your manuscript, if you choose to do so

The two categories are:

Student Paper Reviewers

Due to the sheer quantity of paper submissions ENAR receives for the Distinguished Student Paper Awards competition, ENAR encourages departments who have had student winners in the past 5 years to nominate faculty to serve as reviewers for the upcoming event. Faculty members can complete the form here to register.

Timeline