CAT Awards

Awards 2025 - Call for Nominations to follow

Awards 2024 - Call for Nominations

The Communication and Technology (CAT) Division of the International Communication Association (ICA) seeks nominations for the (1) Frederick Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology and the (2) Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award.

(1) The Frederick Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology. This award recognizes the major contributions and cumulative achievements of a senior scholar who has advanced the study and the field of communication and technology.

Dr. Frederick Williams (1933-2010), former ICA president and founding Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, was a visionary who made significant and lasting impacts on new communication technology research. To honor his memory and outstanding contribution to our field, the Williams Prize is awarded on a year-by-year basis by the ICA's CAT Division.

For full consideration of the 2023-2024 award period, nominations should be submitted to Professor William Dutton, Chair of the ICA CAT Awards Committee, via wdutton@usc.edu no later than  12:00 am GMT on March 1, 2024. Please note that self-nominations are also accepted.

Nominations materials should comprise three separate PDF files attached to email, containing:

• The nominee's full contact information, including name, affiliation, surface mail address, email address, and phone number; and the nominator's full contact information;

• A 1-2 page letter of nomination focused on the nominee's major contributions to the study of communication and technology, and suitability for recognition as a recipient of the Prize; and

• An up-to-date copy of the nominee's CV including publications, distinctions, accomplishments and/or other evidence that demonstrates the significance of the nominee's work and its influence on the field of communication and technology.

(2) Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award for the outstanding doctoral dissertation in the field of communication and technology.

The ICA Communication and Technology Division seeks nominations for the Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award. Any doctoral dissertation in the area of communication and technology, completed and defended between 1 January and 31 December of 2023, is eligible for consideration. The submission deadline for award nominations is  12:00 am GMT, March 1, 2024.

This Dordick Dissertation Award honors the memory of Prof. Herbert S. Dordick (1925-1998), a distinguished telecommunications engineer, public/urban policy researcher and intellectual, teacher and mentor. The Dordick Dissertation Award recognizes the most outstanding doctoral dissertation in the area of communication and technology completed and defended in the preceding year, and is presented annually at the business meeting of the CAT Division of the International Communication Association.

Dissertation authors need not be members of ICA or the CAT Division for their work to be considered, but Award recipients must be ICA members at the time the Award is given (i.e., the ICA annual conference in the year after completing the dissertation). Self-nominations are welcome. Nominations for the CAT Dordick Dissertation Award may not be submitted for dissertation awards by other ICA divisions; we encourage nominators to ensure this through discussion with prospective nominees.

Nomination materials should be sent as PDF attachments to email, and include:

• Full contact information of the dissertation author, including name, current affiliation, surface mail address, email address, and phone number, as well as the institution and department/program awarding the doctoral degree;

• A cover letter or statement (1-2 pages) by the nominator describing the significance of the work and its merit/suitability for the Award;

• A one-page abstract of the dissertation;

• A representative chapter or selected sections of the dissertation, OR a paper summarizing the dissertation study, problem/hypothesis and rationale, methods, and findings, of up to 30 pages in length (double-spaced, excluding references and figures; approximately 7,500 words).

Please submit the nominations and address any questions to William H. Dutton (Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California, and Oxford Internet Institute Fellow and Martin Fellow, University of Oxford), Chair of the ICA CAT Awards Committee, via  wdutton@usc.edu

Awards 2024

The Communication and Technology division (CAT) is pleased to announce the 2024 recipient of the Dordick Dissertation Award: Dr. Sukyoung Choi (Yonsei U). CAT is also pleased to announce the 2024 recipient of the Frederick Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology: Prof. Steve Jones from the University of Illinois – Chicago.

Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award 

Notes from Dmitri Williams (Nominator):
Dr. Choi’s dissertation “represents one of the first efforts to systematically examine the psychology of internal acts of authentication in the context of manipulative AI-MC, specifically, deepfakes.”

Frederick Williams Prize for Contributions to the Study of Communication Technology

This prestigious award honors the memory and outstanding contribution to our field made by Dr. Frederick Williams (1933-2010), former ICA President and founding Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Dr. Williams was a visionary who made significant and lasting impacts on new communication technology research.

Notes from Zizi Papacharisi (Nominator):
“Dr. Steve Jones’ work on New Media Studies is pioneering and inspirational. … [His contribution] to our field and the area of new media studies has been singular.”

Previous Recipients of the Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award

2024: Sukyoung Choi, Yonsei University
2023: Michelle Ferris Dobles, University of Costa Rica
2022: Jihye Lee, Stanford University
2021: Adrian Meier, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
2020: Jeremy Foote, Northwestern University, & Dr. Nicole Zamanzadeh, University of California, Santa Barbara
2019: Xiaoqian Li, University of Texas
2018: Ana Levordashka, Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM) Tübingen
2017: Erin Klawitter, Northwestern University and German Neubaum, University of Duisburg-Essen
2016: Elizabeth Dubois, Oxford Internet Institute
2015: Sanne Kruikemeier, University of Amsterdam
2014: Benjamin Mako Hill, MIT
2013 : Robert Shota Tokunaga, University of Arizona
2012: Younei Soe, Indiana University
2011: Alexander van Deursen, University of Twente
2009: David Huffaker, Northwestern University
2008: Nick Yee, Stanford University
2007: James D. Ivory, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
2005: Dmitri Williams, University of Michigan
2003: Pablo Boczkowski, Cornell University and Keith Hampton, University of Toronto

Previous Recipients of the Frederick Williams Prize for Contributions to the Study of Communication Technology

2024: Steve Jones, University of Illinois – Chicago
2023: Joseph B. Walther, University of California, Santa Barbara
2022: Leah A. Lievrouw, University of California, Los Angeles
2021: James E. Katz, Boston University
2020: S. Shyam Sundar, The Pennsylvania State University
2019: Nancy Baym, Microsoft Research
2018: Jan van Djik, University of Twente
2017: Ron Rice, University of California, Santa Barbara
2016: Janet Fulk, University of Southern California
2015: Sara Kiesler, Carnegie Mellon University
2014: (no award given)
2013: William H. Dutton