Gerard A. Hauser Awards

The Gerard A. Hauser Award is a national award that is presented to outstanding graduate student papers accepted for presentation at the biennial RSA conference. 

SELECTION COMMITTEE

In conversation with the IDEA Representative to the Awards Steering Committee and the Chair of the Committee on Committees, the Conference Director / President-Elect of RSA will appoint a four-person Hauser Award selection committee.

• The Chair of the selection committee will be drawn from the conference planning team. 
• The other three members of the committee should reflect the diversity of rhetorical studies with regard to rank, institution type, and identity categories.

ELIGIBILITY

Currently enrolled graduate students whose proposals are accepted for the conference will be invited to submit a complete version of their conference presentation to be considered for the Hauser award. For the 2026 Conference, submissions were due November 15, 2025.

Each graduate student may submit no more than one essay for consideration for this award at any given RSA conference.

REVIEW PROCESS

Nominations are reviewed by the Hauser Award selection committee, which recommends winners to the Board for final approval. 

In reviewing nominations for the Hauser Award, the selection committee considers:

• Significance to rhetorical studies (historical, critical, theoretical, and/or pedagogical),
• Contribution to the discipline (e.g. expanding, synthesizing, correcting, and/or re-directing previous rhetorical scholarship),
• quality of research design and execution,
• ample engagement with germane primary and secondary sources,
• a clear, accessible, and engaging prose style.
• The paper’s contribution to the Society’s IDEA and/or social justice values through topic, content, citational choices, and/or framing.

Recipients of the Hauser Award are expected to present their award-winning papers at the Conference to which it was submitted.  Recipients receive a free registration for the conference, a cash prize, and an acknowledgement during a public presentation of the award.  

Conflict of Interest for the Hauser Award

No member of the selection committee may supervise, collaborate with, or otherwise have a close working relationship with any nominees for the award. Members of the selection committee who feel that they are unable to be impartial in judging any nominee will recuse themselves from discussion of that nominee.

Ratified by the RSA Board of Directors May 2004. Amended November 2020