COUNCIL OF COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMS
2016 OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

The Award 

The Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP) initiated in 1998, an award program to recognize graduate student excellence in Counseling Psychology. Each year at the Council’s Annual Business Meeting during the APA convention, the award is given to a student who has demonstrated an outstanding record of scholarly and professional development. The award includes a $500 cash award from CCPTP and historically has included a $500 book credit sponsored by Sage Publications, Inc.  

Eligibility and Application Procedures 

To be eligible for the Outstanding Graduate Student (OGS) award, nominees must be (at the time of their nomination) enrolled in a doctoral program in counseling psychology at a university holding institutional membership in CCPTP. Each member institution is eligible to nominate one student per year, and this nominee’s supportive materials (described below) are to be forwarded by the program’s Training Director. Application/support materials should include the following items:

1. A formal nomination/support letter, no longer than 2-3 pages, from the nominee’s Training Director attesting to the program’s endorsement of the student’s consideration for the award.
2. Two additional letters of recommendation, no longer than 2-3 pages each, from professionals familiar with the nominee’s work. These letters should specifically comment on the student’s distinctive contributions to the scientific and professional domains of counseling psychology.
3. An essay from the nominee on how the graduate training she/he received has facilitated and supported her/his development in becoming a counseling psychologist.
4. The student’s current vita, which should detail the nominee’s educational/work history and his or her professional and scholarly contributions.

The nomination must be submitted by e-mailing all nominating materials by April 15, 2016 to Amy L. Reynolds, CCPTP Award Committee Chair, at [email protected]. It will be most helpful if all nomination materials were contained in one document [either as word document or PDF] with the nominee’s name and institution as part of the folder name—e.g., Smith-U.of Oregon).

Evaluation Procedures

Nomination materials will be distributed to the OGS Award Committee after the deadline. This committee will be composed of two members of the CCPTP Executive Board and members of the general CCPTP membership. Using the rating domains described below, committee members will rate each nominee’s materials. The nominee with the highest overall mean rating will be selected as the award recipient, and he or she will be notified no later than Friday, May 13th in advance of the APA Convention when the award will be formally presented. The recipient is strongly encouraged to attend the APA convention to receive her/his award in person.

In reviewing and rating nominees’ supportive documents, OGS Committee members will supply separate ratings within each of the following domains: (a) strength of endorsements, (b) evidence of the quality and distinctiveness of scholarly contributions, (c) evidence of the quality and distinctiveness of professional contributions, and (d) candidate’s overall promise as scholar-professional in counseling psychology.