The deadline for submitting essays for the 2008 Student Ethics Essay Award has passed.
Information on the 2009 competition will be available early in 2009.
ASHA is pleased to announce the 2008 Student Ethics Essay Award as part of its efforts to enhance ethics education activities. This award is designed to provide opportunities for NSSLHA members who are undergraduate or graduate students in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) to think about ethical decision making as they prepare to start careers in audiology, speech-language pathology, or speech, language, and hearing sciences. The goal of the Student Ethics Essay Award is to create greater awareness of situations individuals in CSD careers may encounter that could pose ethical dilemmas and options for addressing these dilemmas.
Students will write an essay on the ethics topic shown below and submit it for initial review by their NSSLHA Chapter Advisor. Each NSSLHA chapter will select one student essay for submission to ASHA for the final review and selection process. (Note: NSSLHA members who are not affiliated with a specific NSSLHA chapter may submit their entries to their Regional Councilors.)
Members of ASHA's Board of Ethics will review the entries and select the three winning essays.
The following prizes will be awarded to the authors of the top three essays.
- First Place: $750.00
- Second Place: $500.00
- Third Place: $250.00
Any or all of the winning essays may be published on the ASHA and/or NSSLHA Web site, in The ASHA Leader, and/or in other ASHA/NSSLHA publications.
See Student Ethics Essay Award Recipients to read the essays selected for this award in previous years.
Award Eligibility
Eligible candidates include NSSLHA members enrolled part time or full time during the academic year 2007-2008 in an undergraduate or graduate-level CSD program. Graduate students must be enrolled in a program currently accredited (or in Candidacy status) by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. (Note: Only NSSLHA chapters in good standing with the association are eligible to submit a member student's essay. NSSLHA chapters may recertify online with the national office.)
Essay Topic
Students will write an essay on the following topic:
Principle of Ethics III of ASHA's Code of Ethics states, "Individuals shall honor their responsibility to the public by promoting public understanding of the professions, by supporting the development of services designed to fulfill the umet needs of the public, and by providing accurate information in all communications involving any aspect of the professions, including dissemination of research findings and scholarly activities." Read the Rules of Ethics associated with this principle and then reflect on and describe why Principle III is important and what it means to you.
Essay Requirements and Evaluation Criteria
- Format
- Length: 1,000 words or less Student Ethics Essay Writing Contest Application Form ([PDF]
- Standard format, e.g., introduction, body, and summary/conclusion
- Microsoft Word, 12-point font, double-spaced on 8½" by 11" white paper
- Pages must be numbered.
- Student Ethics Essay Writing Contest Application Form [PDF] must be completed and used as the cover page.
- Student's name and other identifying information should appear only on the Student Ethics Essay Writing Contest Applicaiton Form (PDF formt), not on the essay itself in order to ensure objectivity in the review process. (NSSLHA chapter will assign a code using the name of the chapter and separate number for each essay and note only the code number on the essay pages.)
- Entries must be original work, unpublished, and submitted by am undergraduate or graduate student currently enrolled in a CSD program. Graduate students must be enrolled in a CAA-accredited (or in Candidacy status) graduate CSD program. Submissions of entries authored by multiple individuals will not be considered.
- Resources: It is recommended that students review ASHA's Code of Ethics in its entirety, and specifically the Rules of Ethics associated with Principle III, and other ethics resources on ASHA's Web site.
- It is also recommended that students review essay-writing guidelines offered in numerous publications and online resources before starting to write. Students will also benefit from the advice of Cicero, the Roman orator: "Be clear, so the audience will understand. Be interesting, so the audience will listen. Be persuasive, so the audience will agree."
- NSSLHA Chapter Advisors/Regional Councilors may use any criteria and means they choose for evaluating essays and selecting one for submission to ASHA. Possible criteria for NSSLHA Chapter Advisors/Regional Councilors to use in evaluating student essays include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Has the writer followed the essay submission requirements described above?
- Has the writer presented his/her position in a clear, logical manner that facilitates understanding the writer's line of reasoning?
- Has the writer supported his/her arguments with factors that are ethically relevant and avoid preoccupation with matters that have little logical relevance to the writer's thesis?
- Is the writer's analysis comprehensive, objective, balanced, and thorough?
- Is the essay free of grammatical, typographical, and punctuation errors?
Essays submitted for this contest will be neither critiqued nor returned.
Submission Instructions
Students who meet eligibility requirements described above will submit the following to NSSLHA Chapter Advisor or Regional Councilor:
NSSLHA Chapter Advisor or Regional Councilor will submit the following to ASHA:
- Student Ethics Essay Writing Contest Application Form [PDF] with student and NSSLHA sections completed and signed and print version of the essay to ASHA, 2200 Research Boulevard #309, Rockville, Maryland 20850.
- Electronic version (MS Word) of the essay to ASHA's Ethics Program Manager at ldaloisio@asha.org. The cover e-mail message must include the name of the NSSLHA chapter submitting the essay, but this information should not be included on the essay itself to ensure objectivity in the final review process.
Submission Dates
Students must submit their completed application forms and essays to their NSSLHA Chapter Advisor or Regional Councilor by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 2008.
NSSLHA Chapter Advisor/Regional Councilor must submit the completed and signed application form and essay to ASHA, 2200 Research Boulevard #309, Rockville, Maryland 20850 by mail postmarked by midnight on Wednesday, April 23, 2008; MS Word version of the essay must also be submitted by e-mail to ldaloisio@asha.org no later than midnight on Wednesday, April 23, 2008.
Authors of winning essays will be notified in May 2008. Winners will be required to submit a completed IRS Form W-9 before prizes can be awarded.
Contact ASHA's Ethics Team at or ldaloisio@asha.org or ddenton@asha.org if you need additional information.
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