Every two years, the SPSA presents two awards for young researchers in political science: One for the best political science dissertation and one for the best political science article in a scientific journal. Eligible for the competition were persons who are members of the SPSA and who work at a Swiss research institution or hold a Swiss university degree. Candidates must be less than 35 years old or have defended their doctoral thesis less than two years ago. A person could only enter the competition for one of the two prizes.
The call for applications was published in the SPSA newsletter on February 23, 2024. By the end of the application period on April 30, 2024, seven dissertations and three articles had been received. At its meeting on June 13, 2024, the SPSA Board pre-selected the competition entries and appointed a three-member jury for each. By November 30, 2024, the juries had selected the winners and formulated the laudatory speeches. The award ceremony took place on January 9, 2025 as part of the SPSA annual conference at the University of Geneva.
The jury, consisting of Prof. Alexandre Afonso (Leiden University), Prof. Christine Rothmayr (Université de Montréal) and Prof. Gabriele Spilker (University of Konstanz), selected the article 'Respected individuals: when state representatives wield outsize influence in international organizations' by Timon Forster, published in the journal International Affairs in 2024, as the best article.
The jury, consisting of Prof. Kathrin Ackermann (University of Siegen), Prof. Daniel Bochsler (Central European University) and Prof. Alessandro Nai (University of Amsterdam), selected Delia Zollinger's thesis entitled 'Structural Change, Identity Formation, and Cleavage Consolidation in 21st Century Politics', which was submitted to the University of Zurich, as the best dissertation.