Student Awards/Premios Estudiantiles

Wilks Award--This award is presented to the student giving the best oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association. The Wilks Award includes US$1,000, a certificate, and a set of all available back issues of The .Southwestern Naturalist. The 2010 recipient of the Wilks Award was Shahan Derkarabetian, San Diego State University, for his paper entitled "Systematics of the Sclerobuninae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores): cryptic species and troglomorphic evolution." Students (including those who received their degree within the past year) are invited to submit a written summary of research to the President-elect by 12 February (Charles Darwin's birthday). The student also must submit an abstract in standard format (described in the annual Call for Papers), making sure to check the box denoting competition for the Wilks Award, to the President-elect AND to the Local Committee for the Annual Meeting. The abstract and summary may have multiple authors, but the research must be primarily the work of the student (first author), not that of the major professor or other authors. From the submissions, a judging panel will select up to four finalists to make oral presentations in the plenary session at the beginning of the Annual Meeting. The recipient will be selected from this group based on quality of the oral presentation and significance of results. The recipient will be announced at the annual banquet. Research summaries, abstracts, and presentations may be in either English or Spanish.