J.P. Kennedy Student Award

The J.P. Kennedy Student Award is presented for the most significant student-authored paper published in Journal of Herpetology in the previous year. The Award was named for J.P. Kennedy who served as Editor of Journal of Herpetology from 1968-1979. The purpose of the Award is to encourage important contributions to herpetology by young scientists and to encourage students to publish in the Journal of Herpetology. The primary or sole author must have been a student (undergraduate or graduate) at the time the research was conducted, however the paper may have been written after they received their degree. The Award carries with it a cash prize of US $200 or the winner’s selection of any SSAR publications valued at twice that amount. A Committee is appointed by the President of the Society to evaluate papers submitted for consideration. The Committee invites all student members of the Society to submit their work to the Journal of Herpetology and encourages regular members who supervise the work of students to draw this award to the attention of those students. An announcement of each award will appear in a future issue of Herpetological Review.

Examples of past J.P. Kennedy Award winners:

2025: Sage D. Babish, Cristian Hernández-Morales, Joseph R. Mendelson III, “Evolutionary Patterns of Trait Change in the Auditory System of Central American Toads (Anura:Bufonidae: Incilius).” J. Herp. 58 :289-303 (2024).
2022: Joseph T. Altobelli, Patrick B. Laarman, and Jennifer A. Moore, “First Year Survival of Hatchling Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) at Their Northern Range Limit in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.“ J. Herp. 55:432-441 (2021).
2021: Elana Adams, Carsten A. Brühl, “Fungicide Exposure Induces Sensitivity Differences in Aquatic Life Stages of European Common Frogs (Rana temporaria).” J. Herp. 54:331-336 (2020).
2020: Sky T. Button, Adia Sovie, Cathryn Greenberg, James Austin, “Evaluating the Ecology of Tantilla relicta in Florida Pine-Wiregrass Sandhills Using Multi-Season Occupancy Models.” J. Herp. 53:179-186 (2019).
2019: Susan Z. Herrick, Kentwood D. Wells, Timothy E. Farkas, Eric T. Schultz, “Noisy Neighbors: Acoustic Interference and Vocal Interactions between Two Syntopic Species of Ranid Frogs, Rana clamitans and Rana catesbeiana.” J. Herp. 52:176-184 (2018).
2018: Anthony L. Hessel, Kiisa C. Nishikawa,“The Hip-twist Jump: A Unique Mechanism for Jumping in Lungless Salamanders.” J. Herp 51:461-467 (2017).
2017: David J. Munoz, David A.W. Miller, Chris Sutherland, Evan H. Campbell Grant, “Using Spatial Capture-Recapture to Elucidate Population Processes and Space-Use in Herpetological Studies.,” J. Herp, 50:570-581 (2016).