The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group (HMGSG) of the AAG is accepting submissions for the Jacques May Thesis Prize. Since 1985, the prize has been awarded to Master’s and doctoral students addressing themes in health and medical geography broadly defined, as judged by a panel of reviewers. Submitted papers will be judged on their contribution to the field, methodological approach, organization, and written composition. Both awardees receive an official certificate and a cash award of $250 (doctoral) or $150 (Master’s).
Eligibility: Master’s or doctoral research officially completed within 24 months before the submission deadline is eligible, provided it has not been previously considered for the prize. You will submit an example paper representing your thesis/dissertation work, which should address a topic central to health and medical geography. Submitted papers must have the participant as the lead author. Membership in the American Association of Geographers is required, but membership in the HMGSG is not.
Submission and Review: Submissions should be sent to Zihan Kan (zihankan@cuhk.edu.hk)
The timeline for the competition is as follows:
- AAG Abstract Submission Deadline (November6th, 2025): An extended abstract (500-word limit) of your paper is due. The abstract should clearly state the purpose, methodology, and findings of the research.
- Notification of selection for full paper submission(November 25th, 2025): The Awards Committee selects the best extended abstracts for submission of full papers. You will receive notification about the Awards Committee decision by this date. Your full paper must be electronically submitted to the paper coordinators by midnight Eastern US time by Dec 15th, 2025 (maximum word limit 9000 words).
- Award Announcement: Winners will be announced at the HMGSG business meeting 2026. Winners will receive a monetary prize. Results of the competition will also be published on the HMGSG website.
Requirements:
The final full paper must include a 500-word abstract and be no longer than 9000 words for (excluding tables, references, and captions). Authors are also encouraged to submit the names of at least 3 possible reviewers who are not affiliated with the research. Ensure that the purpose, methodology, and findings of the research are clearly stated in the abstract. The body of the paper should be double-spaced, 12-point font size and one-inch margins, with page numbers. Remove any identifying information (e.g., name). References should be in AAG style. Submit the paper as a single PDF file with all figures and tables included in the document. Include a title page without author information within this PDF document. Submission of the extended abstract and final paper will be done electronically as an email attachment to the Paper Coordinators (contact information below).
In the email message accompanying the submission, please include the following information:
∙ Full name and current contact information department and university affiliation
∙ Title of paper
∙ Category and date of thesis/dissertation completion
∙ Name of your advisor
∙ Names and email addresses for three to four potential reviewers.
Reviewers must not be committee members or faculty at the student’s university or have any past formal association with the author (e.g., research collaborators, co-authors, etc.). Key authors in the field (e.g., from the thesis bibliography) would be appropriate.
Submission Deadline: The submission deadline is November 6th, 2025 by 11:59 PM EST.
Zihan Kan (zihankan@cuhk.edu.hk)
————————————————–
Previous winners include:
| Name | Year | Title | Institution | Type |
| Changda Yu | 2025 | Do Activity Context and its Temporality Matter in the Stress Relieving Effect of Greenspace? Evidence from Hong Kong based on individual mobile sensing | Chinese University of Hong Kong | PhD |
| Aisha Nur Syed | 2025 | Immigrant Impact: Deconstructing the Production of the South Asian Built Food Environment | University of Toronto | Masters |
| Amber DeJohn | 2024 | Aging Alone, Together: Older Adult ICT Use, Health, and Place during the COVID-19 Pandemic | University of Toronto | PhD |
| Shamayeta Bhattacharya | 2023 | SHAKTHI: Studying Healthcare Accessibility among Kothi, Transgender and Hijra Individuals | University of Connecticut | PhD |
| Aída Guhlincozzi | 2022 | Latina Health Geographies and Intervening Community-Based Organizations in the Chicago Suburbs | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | PhD |
| Amanda Hoffman-Hall | 2022 | Interdisciplinary Geospatial Assessment of Malaria Exposure in Ann Township, Myanmar | University of Maryland | PhD |
| Makoto Takahashi | 2021 | The Improvised Expert: Performing expert authority after Fukushima (2011-2018) | University of Cambridge | PhD |
| Meredith Alberta Palmer | 2021 | Land, Family, Body: Measurement and the Racial Politics of US Colonialism in Haudenosaunee Country | Cornell University | PhD |
| Siewying Shee | 2021 | Moving bodies, feeling health: Examining the embodied politics of health-promoting infrastructure in Singapore | National University of Singapore | Masters |
| Yoo Min Park | 2020 | Spatiotemporal approaches to understanding environmental justice and multi-contextual segregation | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | PhD |
| Elaina Gonsoroski | 2020 | Evaluating the Relationship between Indoor Heat Exposure and Emergency Calls in New York City, Ny during Summer 2016 | Florida State University | Masters |
| Sarah Nelson | 2019 | “They Seem to Want to Help Me”: Health, Rights, and Indigenous Community Resurgence in Urban Indigenous Health Organizations | University of Toronto | PhD |
| Megan Lindstrom | 2019 | GIS Analysis of Hospital Onset Clostridium Difficile | Ohio State University | Masters |
| Stephanie Coen | 2018 | A critical geography of physical activity: Investigating the role of gender in gym environments” | Queen’s University | PhD |
| Kelly Wright | 2018 | The Chigoe Flea Eradication Project (CFEP) and Tungiasis eLibrary Web Mapping Applications | University of Southern California | Masters |
| Calbin Tribby | 2017 | Activity Spaces, Route Choices, and Neighborhoods: Assessing the Built Environment Associations with Walking Trips | Ohio State University | PhD |
| Peng Jia | 2016 | Delineating Hospital Service Areas Based on the Revised Huff Model | Louisiana State University | PhD |
| Léa Ravensbergen | 2016 | Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Children’s Accessibility to Health Promoting Resources: An Activity Space Analysis |
University of Toronto | Masters |
| Xiang Peter Chen | 2015 | Bringing Time into Measure of Food Access: Place vs. People | Ohio State University | PhD |
| Carly E. Nichols | 2015 | San Jose State University | Masters | |
| Paul Delamater | 2013 | Access to Hospitals in a Regulated Health Care System: Implications for Utilization | Michigan State University | PhD |
| Margaret Carrel | 2012 | Space-time differentiation of drivers of and barriers to H5N1 avian influenza evolution in Vietnam | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill | PhD |
| Jamie Fagg | 2011 | Neighbourhood deprivation and self-esteem: is there equalisation in early adolescence? | Queen Mary University of London | PhD |
| Meghan Ormond | 2011 | Who can care? International medical travel and the politics of therapeutic placemaking in Malaysia” |
University of St. Andrews | PhD |
| Melissa Giesbrecht | 2011 | Evaluating Canada’s Compassionate Care Benefit: A Geographic Perspective | Simon Fraser University | Masters |
| Cindy Gorn | 2011 | ‘A Place Like This’: Producing Disablement in Adult Home | University of Washington | Masters |
Health and Medical Geography 