AOS’s Katma Award recognizes papers proposing ideas or testing theories that replace current dogma or settled opinion and that could change the course of thinking about the biology of birds. Papers may also include those that propose a largely untested idea or those that develop and advance it. The award may be given to research articles, short communications, or commentaries (including editorials and reviews) of any length published in any scientific venue within the two preceding years. This unique award was established in 2003 through a generous gift from the late Robert W. Storer.
The award consists of a $2,500 prize plus a certificate. Papers with one or two authors are preferred; nomination of papers with several co-authors must specify the contribution of each. Self-nominations are eligible for consideration. All award nominees are expected to have a high standard of ethical and social behavior that is strongly aligned with the AOS Code of Conduct & Ethics.
Submit a Nomination
Nominations for the AOS Katma Award are currently closed.
Nominations must be submitted through our online Member Portal.
- The page linked above will direct you to a login screen. If you have previously created an account in our Member Portal, enter your user name and password. After logging in, you will be redirected to the Katma Award nomination page.
- If you have not previously created an account, click Register Now on the lower right to set up your profile.
Nominations for the Katma Award should include a PDF of the paper or series of papers and a one- to two-page letter describing how the nomination fits the qualifications outlined above.
Previous Katma Award Winners
| 2021 | Alice Boyle, E.H. Shogren, & J.D. Brawn. 2020. Hygric niches for tropical endotherms. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 35:938-952. |
| 2020 | Mikus Abolins-Abols and Mark E. Hauber. 2018. Host defences against avian brood parasitism: an endocrine perspective. Proc. Royal Soc. B 285: 20180980. |
| 2019 | Benjamin Winger, Giorgia Auteri, Teresa Pegan, & Brian Weeks. 2018. A long winter for the Red Queen: rethinking the evolution of seasonal migration. Biol. Rev. 94: 737-752. |
| 2016 | Muhammad Asghar, Dennis Hasselquist, Bengt Hansson, Pavel Zehtindjiev, Helena Westerdahl, & Staffan Bensch. 2015. Hidden costs of infection: Chronic malaria accelerates telomere degradation and senescence in wild birds. Science 347: 436-438. |
| 2015 | Bailey McKay & Robert Zink. 2014. Sisyphean evolution of Darwin’s finches. Biol. Rev. 90: 689-698. |
| 2013 | Kenneth P. Dial, Brandon E. Jackson, & Paolo Segre. 2008. A fundamental avian wing-stroke provides a new perspective on the evolution of flight. Nature 451: 985-989. |
| 2011 | Sievert Rohwer, Keith A. Hobson, & Vanya G. Rohwer. 2009. Migratory double breeding in neotropical migrant birds. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106: 19050-19055 |