The Children, Adolescents, and Media Division presents awards at its annual business meeting each year. CAM recognizes top papers as well as best published articles, top dissertation, top reviewer, and senior scholar. Learn more about each of these awards as well their recipients below. To nominate a scholar for one of these awards, please review our nomination procedures.
Top Paper Award | Best Published Article | Top Dissertation | Top Reviewer | Senior Scholar | Engaged Research
Top Paper Awards
Typically, one “Top Paper” and one “Top Student-Led Paper” are selected from the pool of competitive paper submissions for ICA’s annual meeting. The Awards Committee selects the top papers, and the award certificates are presented at the meeting by the CAM officer in charge of the Awards Committee. In addition, the top student-led paper author(s) receive Travel Grants in the amount of $250. Funding from CAM is matched by ICA (bringing the total for the Top Student Paper Award to $500).
Previous Top Paper Award Winners
2023
- Matt Minich & Megan Moreno. Real-World Adolescent Smartphone Use is Associated With Improvements in Mood: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study [top student-led paper]
- Meryl Alper. “I Get to Earn Screens, Which is Terrible”: Parental Mediation and the Family Context of Autistic Children’s Media Use [top paper]
2022
- AnneMarie McClain & Marie-Louise Mares. Black Parents’ Hopes for their Children’s Media: Predictors of Preferences for Different Types of Representations [top student-led paper]
- Sarah Coyne, Adam Rogers, Jane Shawcroft, Peter Reschke, Rachel Barr, Emilie Davis, Hailey Holmgren & Sarah Domoff. Meltdowns and Media: Moment-to-Moment Fluctuations in Young Children’s Media Use Transitions and the Role of Children’s Mood States [top paper]
2021
- Caroline van Straten, Jochen Peter, Rinaldo Kühne, & Alex Barco. The Wizard and I: How Self- Description and Transparent Teleoperation (Do Not) Affect Child-Robot Perception and Relationship Formation [top student-led paper]
- Sarah Devos, Kathrin Karsay, Steven Eggermont, & Laura Vandenbosch. Whatever You Can Do I can do too: The relations between positive social media content, inspiration, and pressure [top student-led paper]
- Marco Gui, Tiziano Gerosa, Gianluca Argentin, & Lucilla Losi. Mobile connectivity and adolescents’ well-being: a Cluster Randomised Trial of a media education training program for high school [top paper]
2020
- Daniëlle Bleize, Doeschka Anschütz, Martin Tanis, & Moniek Buijzen. The effects of group centrality and out-group accountability on conformity to cyber aggression: A messaging app experiment [top student-led paper]
- James Alex Bonus & Judy Watts. “You can[‘t] catch the sun in a net!”: Children’s misinterpretations of educational science television [top paper]
2019
- Ines Spielvogel, Jörg Matthes, & Brigitte Naderer. Again and again: Exploring the influence of disclosure repetition on children’s cognitive processing of brand placements [top student-led paper]
- James Alex Bonus. The impact of pictorial realism in educational science television on children’s learning and transfer of biological facts [top paper]
- Nilam Ram, Xiao Yang, Mu-Jung Cho, Miriam Brinberg, Fiona Muirhead, Byron Reeves, & Thomas Robinson. Teen Screenomes: Describing and interpreting adolescents’ day-to-day digital lives [top paper]
2018
- Amber van der Wal, Karin M. Fikkers, & Patti M. Valkenburg. What’s in it for them? Teens’ Differential Preferences for Types and Contexts of Televised Aggression [top student-led paper]
- Heather Kirkorian, Koeun Choi, Seung Heon Yoo & Roxanne Etta. Child characteristics, media characteristics, and selective attention moderate toddlers’ learning from screen media [top paper]
- Amy Nathanson & Ine Beyens. Associations between Television Exposure and Executive Function among 12-18-month-old Infants [top paper]
2017
- Lisa Hurwitz, Dashia Kwok, & Kelly Schmitt. Effects of Ready To Learn Early Childhood Literacy Computer Games in Middle Childhood [top student-led paper]
- Heather Kirkorian, Koeun Choi, & Daniel Anderson. Parents’ Active Engagement Mediates the Impact of Background TV on Toddlers’ Play [top paper]
- Ine Beyens, Jessica Taylor Piotrowski, & Patti Valkenburg. Which Came First? Assessing Transactional Relationships between Children’s Violent Media Use and ADHD-Related Behaviors [top paper]
2016
- Maren Beaufort. How Candy Placements In Films Influence Children’s Selection Behavior in Real Life Shopping Scenarios [top student-led paper]
- Sanne Opree, Moniek Buijzen & Eva van Reijmersdal. The Effects of Advertising Exposure on Children’s Materialism, Psychological Well-Being, and Life Satisfaction [top paper]
- Annemarie van Oosten, Laura Vandenbosch & Jochen Peter. Hypergender teens on social networking sites: Investigating reciprocal relationships between gender role orientations and sexy online self-presentations [top paper]
2015
- Ine Beyens, Steven Eggermont, & Amy Nathanson. Maternal Stress as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Mothers? Attitudes and Children’s Television Viewing [top student-led paper]
- Laura Vandenbosch, Karoline Driesmans, Jolien Trekels, & Steven Eggermont. The Effect of Playing With Video Game Avatars on Self-Objectification in Adolescent Boys and Girls [top paper]
- Stephanie Edgerly, Kierstin Thorson, Esther Thorson, Emily K. Vraga, & Leticia Bode. Sparking Interest, Modeling Consumption: A Contingency Model for Youth News Socialization [top paper]
2014
- Fashina Alade. What preschoolers bring to the show: The effects of viewer characteristics on children’s learning from educational television [top student-led paper]
- Nicole Martins, Marie-Louise Mares, Mona Malacane, & Alanna Peebles. Liked characters get a moral pass: Young viewers’ evaluations of social and physical aggression in tween sitcoms [top paper]
- Esther Rozendaal, Suzanna Opree, & Moniek Buijzen. Development and validation of a survey instrument to measure children’s advertising literacy [top paper]
2013
- Laura Vandenbosch & Ine Beyens. The Impact of Television Viewing, Sensation Seeking, and Gender on Adolescents’ Attitude Toward Uncommitted Sexual Exploration [top student-led paper]
- Bradley J. Bond, & Sandra L. Calvert. A Predictive Model of Young Children’s Parasocial Relationship Development [top paper]
- Amy Nathanson, Molly Sharp, Fashina Alade, Eric Rasmussen, & Katheryn Christy. The Relation Between Television Exposure and Theory of Mind Among Preschoolers [top paper]
- Shira Dvir-Gvirsman, Rowell Heusmann, Simha Landau, Eric Dubow, Paul Boxer, & Khalil Shikiaki. The Implications of Chronic Exposure to Political Violence via Media: Evidence from a Longitudinal Analysis [top paper]
2012
- Xanthe S. Plaisier & Elly A. Konijn. Peers, Media, and Morals: How Peer Rejection Impacts Moral Judgment and Preferences for Antisocial Media Content in Adolescents [top student-led paper]
- Jessica Taylor Piotrowski. How Reduced Narrative Processing Demands Impact Preschoolers’ Comprehension of Educational Television [top paper]
- Matthew A. Lapierre, Jessica Taylor Piotrowski, & Deborah L. Linebarger. Background Television in the Homes of American Children [top paper]
2011
- Meryl Alper. Representations of non-American foreigners in American children’s television [top student-led paper]
- Jochen Peter & Patti Valkenburg. The influence of sexually explicit internet material and peers on stereotypical beliefs about women’s sexual roles [top paper]
2010 [first year of award]
- Robert Andrew Dunn. Is the Web Making Rural Children Less Rural? A Study of the Internet’s Impact on Non-Urban Youth [top student-led paper]
- Rebecca Ortiz Langford. Kid Tested, Parent Approved: Parental Determination of Appropriate Television Content for Their Children
- Alexis Lauricella, Rachel Barr, Elizabeth Zack & Sandra L. Calvert. Infant and Preschool Exposure to Television: Relations with Cognitive Outcomes at Age Four in a Low-Risk Sample
- Yi-Chun Chen. The Role of Media Literacy in Changing Adolescents’ Responses to Alcohol Advertising
- Vikki Sara Katz. How Children Mediate Connections between Home and Community: The Case of Latinos in South Los Angeles
- Henry Mainsah. New Spaces of Immigrant Youth Expression on the Web
Best Published Article Award
The Children, Adolescents, and Media (CAM) division of ICA honors a sole or jointly authored research article published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal which represents a significant contribution to the field. To be eligible for the award, the article must have been published within the previous two calendar years and be authored by one or more members of the CAM division. Members of the Awards Committee may nominate, but nominators (and nominees) must recuse themselves from voting on this award.
Previous Best Published Article Award Winners
- 2023 – Devina Sarwatay & Usha Raman. “Everyday Negotiations in Managing Presence: Young People and Social Media in India.” Information, Communication & Society.
- 2022 – Amber van der Waal, Jessica T. Piotrowski & Patti Valkenburg. “Just a Joke? Adolescents’ Preferences for Humor in Media Entertainment and Real-Life Aggression.” Media Psychology.
- 2021 – Ine Beyens, Loes Pouwels, Irene van Driel, Loes Keijsers, & Patti Valkenburg. “The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent.” Scientific Reports.
- 2020 – Karin Fikkers, Jessica Piotrowski, & Patti Valkenburg. “Child’s play? Assessing the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between gaming and intelligence in early childhood.” Journal of Communication.
- 2019 – Edmund W. J. Lee, Shirley S. Ho, & May O. Lwin. “Explicating problematic social network sites use: A review of concepts, theoretical frameworks, and future directions for communication theorizing.” New Media & Society.
- 2018 – Eric E Rasmussen, Autumn Shafer, Malinda J. Colwell, Shawna White, Narissra Punyanunt-Carter, Rebecca L. Densley, & Holly Wright. “Relation between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and US preschoolers’ social and emotional development.” Journal of Children and Media.
- 2017 – Eline Frison & Steven Eggermont. “Toward an Integrated and Differential Approach to the Relationships between loneliness, different types of Facebook use, and adolescents’ depressed mood.” Communication Research.
- 2016 – Winneke van der Schuur, Susanne Baumgartner, Sindy Sumter, & Patti Valkenburg. “The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review.” Computers in Human Behavior.
- 2015 – Laura Vandenbosch & Steven Eggermont. “The role of mass media in adolescents’ sexual behaviors: Exploring the explanatory value of the three-step self-objectification process.” Archives of Sexual Behavior.
- 2014 – Marie-Louise Mares & Michael T. Braun. “Effects of conflict in tween sitcoms on US students’ moral reasoning about social exclusion.” Journal of Children and Media.
- 2013 – Nicole Martins & Barbara Wilson. “Mean on the Screen: Social Aggression in Programs Popular With Children.” Journal of Communication. [first year of award]
Top Dissertation Award
The award honors a dissertation in the Children, Adolescents, and Media (CAM) field, completed (defended) in the two calendar years preceding the nomination deadline. The award is open to ICA members. Membership in the CAM division is required. A cash award is given in the amount of $250. The review committee judges each nominated dissertation on several criteria including the importance of the problem/topic it addresses, the strength of evidence it presents, and the significance of its conclusions. The committee also considers the overall contribution of the research to the field and the relationship of the submission to the mission of the division.
Previous Top Dissertation Award Winners
- 2023 – Sarah Devos. Unraveling Success Stories in Media: An Exploration of Their Manifestations in Popular (Social) Media and Their Effects on Adolescent Development
- 2022 – Caroline van Straten. The next best friend? How children perceive and relate to a social robot.
- 2021 – Soeun Yang. Youth Civic Development through Online Communication, with a Focus on Communication Competence
- 2020 – Brahim Zarouali. Adolescents’ interactions with targeted advertising on social networking sites
- 2019 – Lisa Hurwitz. Were they ready to learn? Short- and long-term effects of ready to learn media on young children’s literacy
- 2018 – Brigitte Naderer. The Impact of Product Placements in Children’s Movies: Content, Effects, and Protective Measures
- 2017 – Eline Frison. How Facebook makes teens (un)happy: Understanding the relationships between Facebook use and adolescents’ well-being
- 2016 – Sara Pabian. A developmental perspective on personal and situational predictors and outcomes of adolescent cyberbullying perpetration: A longitudinal examination
- 2015 – Simone de Droog. Establishing and Explaining the Impact of Characters on Young Children’s Healthy Food Choices
- 2014 – Laura Vandenbosch. Self-objectification and sexual effects of the media: An exploration study in adolescence
- 2013 – Bradley J. Bond. Sexuality in the Media and Emotional Well-Being Among Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Adolescents
- 2012 – Esther Rozendaal. Advertising literacy and children’s susceptibility to advertising [first year of award]
Top Reviewer Award
The Top Reviewer Award recognizes the reviewer that has contributed in a significantly and meaningful way during the annual reviewing process. This reviewer is selected by the program planner for that year, and is nominated for the Top ICA Reviewer Award (across all divisions). This award is open to all ICA-CAM reviewers, with a preference for junior scholars who are seeking to actively contribute to CAM. Membership in the CAM division is not required.
Previous Top Reviewer Award Winners
- 2023 – Anne-Linda Camerini
- 2022 – Allyson Snyder
- 2021 – Alanna Peebles
- 2020 – Drew Cingel
- 2019 – Brigitte Naderer
- 2018 – Kathleen Beullens
- 2017 – Mariska Kleemans [first year of award]
Senior Scholar Award
The Senior Scholar Award recognizes an established scholar who has made significant contributions to the development and status of scholarship in the area of children, adolescents and media. The Award is open to scholars from different backgrounds and disciplinary orientations and who are informed by a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. The Award is open to ICA members, with preference given to those who have been ICA members for a minimum of 3 years. Membership in the CAM division is encouraged but not required.
Previous Senior Scholar Award Winners
- 2023 – Erica Scharrer
- 2022 – Marina Krcmar
- 2021 – Moniek Buijzen
- 2019 – Monique Ward
- 2018 – Marie-Louise Mares
- 2017 – Jan van den Bulck
- 2016 – Amy Jordan
- 2015 – Patti M. Valkenburg
- 2014 – Sonia Livingstone
- 2013 – Ellen Wartella
- 2012 – Dafna Lemish [first year of award]
Engaged Research Award
The Engaged Research Award honors a scholar who has made significant contributions in the area of children, adolescents and media through community engaged scholarship. The successful nomination will have made clear, coherent, and sustained contributions in the areas of community engaged research, teaching and/or service. Engaged research is associated with discovery of new knowledge and insights in collaboration with community and/or industry partners. Engaged teaching involves the sharing and transmission of research-based knowledge with audiences through formal or informal activities. Engaged service is associated with use of research-based expertise to address specific issues or concerns identified by individuals, organizations or communities. The Award is open to scholars from different backgrounds and disciplinary orientations and who are informed by a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. Membership in the CAM division is required. Members of the Awards Committee may nominate, but nominees cannot serve on the Awards Committee.
Previous Engaged Research Award Winners
- 2023 – Vikki Katz
- 2022 – Sonia Livingstone
- 2021 – Maya Götz [first year of award]
Children, Adolescents, and Media Division 