Wesley Lanyon Award

The AOS’s Lanyon Award recognizes the early-career ornithologist who authors the best integrative paper on avian science in either AOS journal (Ornithology or Ornithological Applications). It is given in honor of Wesley “Bud” Lanyon, who served as the 37th President of the American Ornithologists’ Union. Bud was a steadfast and committed leader in the field of ornithology and a respected mentor of many generations of scientists. He was particularly keen to support researchers in the midst of writing their dissertations and those who had recently completed their Ph.D.s. Because they possess a thorough understanding of the current literature, he recognized, they are poised to provide novel insights into classic areas of ornithology and to elucidate emerging fields of study.

The 2025 Wesley Lanyon Award provides a $1,500 honorarium to the winner, as well as a $1,000 travel stipend and gratis registration to attend the 2025 AOS annual meeting, for which the winner will organize a symposium on their winning review topic. The winner will be announced to the public as soon as the winning paper is selected; the award will be conferred at the 2025 AOS annual meeting. 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.

Call for Abstracts

Abstract submissions for the 2025 Lanyon Award are currently closed.

Abstracts must be submitted through the AOS Member Portal. Authors invited to submit full submissions will receive the invitation by early December with expected submission of the full manuscript by July 2024.

Lanyon Award Application Process & Eligibility Details

• Eligible applicants include AOS members who are doctoral students or early professionals within three years of earning their Ph.D. (An extra year of eligibility may be granted for parental leave.)
• Proposed papers should fit the target journals’ mission and scope and be novel, integrative reviews that advance ornithology, not simply a review of a body of literature. See Sayer (2018) for excellent advice about writing a review article.
• The prize will be awarded to the individual who proposed the winning paper and led the writing. Proposals with multiple authors must include a statement that the first author conceived of the study and did the majority of research and writing. An applicant may only submit one first-authored proposal per award cycle.
• Interested applicants must first submit an abstract of their proposed paper. The journal Editors-in-Chief (EICs) together and the four Senior Editors will review the submitted abstracts. A maximum of six entrants per award cycle will be invited to submit full manuscripts.
• The EICs and Senior Editors will select a winner from the final set of accepted papers. The winner will be notified in advance of the next AOS meeting so that the symposium can be planned. The winner will be announced to the public as soon as the winning paper is selected, and the award conferred at the AOS annual meeting in which the symposium occurs.
• The winning paper will be published as Editor’s Choice* articles in the appropriate AOS journal.
• Each award cycle is two years to allow sufficient time for manuscript preparation, peer review, revisions, and symposium planning. Note that the prize will not be awarded in a given year if no submitted papers are deemed suitable for publication.

Previous Lanyon Award Winners

*Editor’s Choice articles are free to read for anyone, regardless of AOS membership or journal subscription status.