Awards and Prizes




The IPA's Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award
Purpose:  This is the most prestigious IPA award.  The Board, on the recommendation of the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee, may confer the IPA's Outstanding Achievement Award upon either a member or a non-member who, in the judgement of the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee, has made an outstanding contribution to the relationship between psychoanalysis and other fields.  The award shall be made in Congress years only and may be made jointly to one or more nominees.

Award: The award carries no monetary value.

Nomination and Selection: Nominations may be made by any IPA member to the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee. The Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee makes recommendations (accompanied by citations) to the Board. No voting member of the Board, or the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee, may be nominated or receive this award during her or his term of office with the IPA.

Announcement and Presentation: The award is announced and presented by the President, with a medal and a certificate, at the Congress.

Extraordinarily Meritorious Service to Psychoanalysis Award

Purpose: From time to time the Board may confer this award of merit upon a deserving recipient who is not an IPA member.  The award shall be for exceptionally meritorious service to psychoanalysis or the profession, including the promotion of psychoanalysis to the wider community.

Award: The award carries no monetary value.

Nomination and Eligibility: Nominations for the Award may be made by any IPA member to the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee.  The Award is restricted to non IPA members.

Selection: The Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee will, from time to time, present nominations (accompanied by citations) to the Board for consideration and selection.

Announcement and Presentation: The award is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.


 Extraordinarily Meritorious Service to the IPA Award

Purpose: From time to time the Board may confer this award of merit upon a deserving member of the IPA.  The award shall be for exceptionally meritorious service to the IPA.

Award: The award carries no monetary value.

Nomination and Eligibility: Nominations for the Award may be made by any IPA member to the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee.  The Award is restricted to IPA members.

Selection: The Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee will, from time to time, present nominations (accompanied by citations) to the Board for consideration and selection. No voting member of the Board may be nominated or receive this award during her or his term of office with the IPA.

Announcement and Presentation: The prize is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.

Elise M. Hayman Award for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide

Purpose: The Elise M. Hayman Award was initiated in 1989 by Dr Max Hayman in memory of his wife, Elise.  The award is made biennially for the most cogent, relevant and commendable work on the Holocaust, and Genocide, current or historical.

Award: The award is US$4000 from 2009.  The Hayman family has granted authority to the Board to vary the value of the award depending on the financial performance of the Lectureship Fund.  The award value is reviewed prior to each Congress.

Submission and Eligibility: By papers sent in response to the call for entries for this Award, which may be submitted by Members, IPA Candidates or non-members.  Papers may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: Entries for the award are judged by a committee comprising psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and academics from other relevant disciplines, selected by the Congress Programme Committee, and will take account of the languages of the entries.

Announcement and Presentation: The award is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.  During the week of the Congress the winner gives the Elise M. Hayman lecture which is offered for publication to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Hayman Prize for Published Work Pertaining to Traumatised Children and Adults

Purpose: This award, also funded by Dr Hayman, was set up in 1997.  The effects of the Holocaust upon adult survivors have led to significant impact upon the development of their children.  The effects upon children who were themselves interned in the camps have been less studied and the same is true for those children’s children. While some authors have recorded important clinical evidence of the trauma suffered by these children, further attention needs to be focused on the numerous areas of their functional development upon which Holocaust experiences have had impact, directly or indirectly.

To encourage interest in this specific topic, and to make the need for increased knowledge of the topic more widely appreciated, a prize is offered to the author or authors of the best paper on this subject published (or accepted for publication) in a book or in a recognised psychoanalytic or other scientific journal during the two years preceding a biennial international Congress of the IPA.  The study of the nature and characteristics of massive trauma to children, of the influence upon their development and functioning, and on succeeding generations of their children, should be the central theme of such a work.  Preferably, the study should focus direction upon the subject population directly related to the Holocaust or should apply the understanding derived from Holocaust studies to the effects of massive trauma suffered by children living under repressive regimes elsewhere (for example, the children of the “disappeared” in Latin America).

Prize: The prize is US$4000 from 2009.  The Hayman family has granted authority to the Board to vary the value of the prize depending on the financial performance of the Lectureship Fund.  The prize value is reviewed prior to each Congress.

Submission and Eligibility: By submissions sent in response to the call for entries for this Prize, which may be submitted by Members, IPA Candidates or non-members.  Submissions should include the journal or book reference and a photocopy or offprint of the relevant paper.  They may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish. Entries are limited to one per person and must be between 5,000 and 7,000 words in length.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: Entries for the prize are judged by a committee comprising psychoanalysts, psychiatrists and others who are knowledgeable about the effects of trauma on younger generations.  This Committee will be chaired by the Chair of the IPA Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis (COCAP) and the award committee will be selected by the Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis, and will take account of the languages of the entries.

Announcement and Presentation: The prize is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress, as well as in the relevant psychoanalytic journals.

Psychoanalytic Research Exceptional Contribution Awards

Purpose: The Research Committee of the IPA has set up an open biennial competition for the four best psychoanalytic research papers/posters to be submitted for the IPA’s biennial Congress from the three IPA Regions.  The competition is not restricted to empirical studies, however the submissions are expected to report the results of systematic investigation of relevance to psychoanalysis.  They may be in any field where psychoanalysis is relevant, such as the history of science, law, art, etc.

Award: The award is of US$500 for each of the four papers/posters.

Submission and Eligibility: By papers/posters sent in response to the call for entries for this Award, which may be submitted by Members, IPA Candidates or non-members.  Papers/posters may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: Entries for the award are judged by the IPA Research Committee.

Announcement and Presentation: The prizes are announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.


Psychoanalytic Training Today Award

Purpose: The IPA Education Committee in 2002 set up this award to recognize the best submitted paper on the study and development of psychoanalytic training models.

Award: The award carries no monetary value.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Submission and Eligibility: By papers sent in response to the call for entries for this Award, which may be submitted by Members, IPA Candidates or non-members.  Papers may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish.

Selection: Entries for the Award are divided by IPA region, and judged in the first instance by members of the IPA’s Education Committee from the related region.  The three best papers from each IPA region are then judged by the whole Education Committee, which selects the winner and any runners up.

Announcement and Presentation: The award is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.

Sacerdoti Prize

Purpose: This prize, funded by Cesare Sacerdoti, previously of Karnac Books, dates from 1987.  It is awarded for the best individual paper submitted by a relatively young author who is presenting a paper at the IPA International Congress for the first time.

Prize: The prize is UK£500.

Submission and Eligibility: By papers sent in response to the call for entries for the Congress, which may be submitted by Members, IPA Candidates or non-members, who specifically indicate that they wish their papers to be considered for this Prize.  Papers may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: The prize-winning paper is selected by the Congress Programme Committee from the papers which are submitted for the scientific programme of the biennial IPA Congress.

Announcement and Presentation: The prize is announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.

Tyson Prize

Purpose:  This prize, funded by Dr Robert L Tyson, dates from 2005.  It is awarded for the best unpublished clinical paper written by an IPA candidate in the two previous years.

Prize: The prize is US$500 for the winner in one region and US$250 for each finalist in each of the other two regions as determined by the selection panel.

Submission and Eligibility: By papers of no more than 5000 words sent in response to the call for entries for this Prize, which is restricted to IPA Candidates.  Papers may be submitted in English, French, German or Spanish.

Deadline: 28 February in a Congress year.

Selection: Entries for the prize are judged by a panel selected and chaired by the Chair of the IPA Committee on Relations with IPSO, in consultation with the Committee, and will take account of the languages of the entries.  The panel shall consist of IPA members only.

Announcement and Presentation: The prizes are announced and presented by the President of IPSO, with a certificate at the Congress.

The Elisabeth Young-Bruehl Prejudice Award

Purpose:To increase awareness of the need to develop understanding of prejudice of various kinds within psychoanalysis and to honour the work of Dr. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl. Among other books, she wrote “The Anatomy of Prejudice” 1996, which addressed four kinds of prejudice. Her most recent book written just prior to her sudden and untimely death in 2011 was about another kind of prejudice “Childism”.

Award: The award will comprise a check for $500 donated by Dr. Christine Dunbar. This award will be given every two years at an IPA Congress. The prize will be awarded for a work (e.g. essay, article or video) which contributes to psychoanalytic understanding of prejudice. Prejudice can be defined as: an unfair and/or unreasonable feeling or dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, etc. Psychoanalytically, prejudice can have both conscious and unconscious meaning and expression.

Nomination and Eligibility: All members of the IPA and candidates will be eligible for this award. The IPA Board might wish to consider others outside the IPA membership (e.g. scholars, academics and related professionals – social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists) - who are interested in and knowledgeable about the relationship between psychoanalysis and prejudice. Submissions will demonstrate the meaning, effects and expression of prejudice through any personal production such as written material, a work of art or video and how this might be integrated into psychoanalytic theory and practice. Those submitting will indicate whether or not he or she intends to attend the Congress.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: The winner of the award will be selected by the Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee, who will make its selection using such expert advisors as it deems necessary.

Announcement and Presentation: The award will be made at each IPA congress and presented by Dr. Christine Dunbar or her representative if she is unable to attend a specific Congress.

ING Prize for Psychoanalytic Scholarship by a Candidate of a Study Group or Regional Institute
Purpose: The purpose of this award is to encourage and help develop Study Groups by offering a biennial award supporting psychoanalytic scholarship. This acknowledges that Study Groups are at the origin of IPA evolution and that recognizing and fostering candidate creativity and belonging is directly linked to the well-being of the Association.  

Award: The award is US$500 for the winner and the opportunity to present the winning paper either during the biennial Congress or at a separate webinar, depending on space availability at the Congress.  

Submission and Eligibility: By papers sent in response to the call for entries for this Award, which may be submitted by IPA Candidates who are members of a Study Group or in training with one of the IPA’s Regional Institutes (ILAP or EPI).  Papers should be a minimum of 5000 words and a maximum of 7000 words and be submitted in one of the official IPA languages. It should have both theoretical and clinical elements and can be based on a supervised case report, final clinical paper, or written specifically for this purpose. Careful consideration should be taken to protect patient confidentiality.

Deadline: Determined by the deadline for the submission of proposals for the Congress.

Selection: Entries for the award are judged by a panel composed of 3 IPA Members, 1 from each region, to be chosen by the ING Chair.  The 3 would usually be past ING Chairs, but other members of the ING Community (past or present) may be considered.  Depending on the quantity of submissions, the panel will create a short list of finalists and determine the winner from this sub-group. 

Announcement and Presentation: The prizes are announced and presented, with a certificate, at the Congress.

Presentation of Awards at IPA Congresses

For those awards that include presentation at the IPA Congress the following rules and limits will be followed:

1) 1 hour will be set aside for each prize winner to present and read their winning paper.  It is a requirement of the prize or award that the paper be submitted or edited to a length that takes no more than 45 minutes to read.

2) It is hoped that only one prize-winner will be chosen for each award.  However in the exceptional circumstance where two papers are felt to be tangentially linked two winners may be chosen.  In such cases only one hour in total will be allowed in which both prize-winners will present their papers.

3) Only the winner of the first prize of each award will be invited to read at the Congress and if he/she declines, the 2nd prize-winner will not be invited to read. 

4) The Programme Committee of each Congress will allow sufficient time within the construction of its programme in order that the prize-winners may present their papers, in accordance with the points listed above.


Change Log
December 1999: First approved.
July 2000: Extraordinarily Meritorious Service to the IPA Award redrafted and approved.
January 2003: Research, Education and Outstanding Achievement Awards added and approved.
January 2004: Research Award increased from 3 to 4 prizes approved.
November 2004: Tyson Prize and Award for Extraordinarily Meritorious Service to Psychoanalysis added and approved.
July 2005: The following approved - Stipulation of English language submission added to first paragraph/The need for citations from the Executive Committee added to the Extraordinary Meritorious Service Awards and the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award/The word ‘Scientific’ added to the title of the Outstanding Achievement Award.
July 2006: The following approved:
1.  Increased value of and addition of ‘Submission and Eligibility’ to both Hayman awards as agreed by Lorraine Helms (daughter) and Martin Hayman (son) in March 2006.  The Board is also granted authority to vary the value of both awards depending on the performance of the Lectureship Fund.
2.  Addition of ‘Submission and Eligibility’ to both Sacerdoti and Tyson awards as agreed by Cesare Sacerdoti and Bob Tyson in March 2006.
3.  Revisions to the Psychoanalytic Training Today Award and the Psychoanalytic Research Exceptional Contributions Awards as agreed by the relevant Committees in March 2006.
4.  Revisions to the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award to include a Selection Committee in accordance with the Board wishes from July 2005.
5.  Ticho Foundation Lectureship Award added June 2006 on request from the Foundation Director, Stefan Pasternak.
July 2007: Rise in value of Hayman prizes from $3000 to $4000 each from 2009 as recommended to maintain the value of the Lectureship Fund within the approved range, and the following text concerning the authority of the Board to make such changes, approved by the Executive Committee.
September 2007: Inclusion of entry ‘Presentation of awards at IPA Congresses’ approved by Executive Committee.
March 2007:  Changes to Tyson Prize approved by the Board.
November 2010: the funding for the Ticho Prize was withdrawn by the Ticho foundation and therefore deleted from these procedures.
January 2011: The word VOTING was inserted in the text: No VOTING member of the Board, or the Selection Committee, may be nominated or receive this award during her or his term of office with the IPA to both the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award and the Extraordinarily Meritorious Service to the IPA Award – approved by the Board.
Changes to reflect the creation of a new Prizes and Awards Nominating Committee, approved July 2015
Change to the deadline for entries for the 2 Hayman Prizes, the Psychoanalytic Research Exceptional Contribution Awards, and the Psychoanalytic Training Today Award, approved by electronic vote December 2015. 
The Board approved the addition of Elizabeth Young-Bruehl Prejudice Award, June 2016. 
Change to submission guidelines for the Hayman Prize for Published Work Pertaining to Traumatised Children and Adults, approved July 2019.
The Board approved the addition of the ING Prize for Psychoanalytic Scholarship by a candidate of a Study Group or Regional Institute’ in July 2022

 

*This change record is for background information only and does not form part of the Procedural Code. If there is any conflict between a statement in the Procedural Code and a statement in this change record, the change record will be disregarded.