HBES Awards

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society has three kinds of awards: Conference Awards, Society Awards, and Paper Awards. The Conference Awards are for specific works presented at the annual HBES meeting, and include the New Investigator Award (students), Postdoctoral Award (recent PhDs), and Poster Award. The Society Awards recognize individuals for their overall contributions to the field: the Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution (single winner, <10 years post-PhD), the Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution (single winner, typically senior scientists), and to recognize other excellent researchers, the Rising Star Award (multiple winners, <8 years post-PhD) and the HBES Fellows (multiple winners, >10 years post-PhD). Finally, there are the Paper awards for single published papers, which include the Margo Wilson Award for the best paper published in Evolution and Human Behavior (the official journal of HBES), and the Don Symons Adaptationism Award for the paper that best exemplifies the adaptationist programme from the previous three years in any journal.

Nominations are due March 1st for Rising Stars, Fellows, Early Career, Lifetime Career, and the Don Symons Adaptationism Award. Nominees must be HBES members; self-nominations are acceptable. New Investigator & Postdoc submissions occurs with conference abstract submission and must include a paper corresponding to your abstract; all posters are automatically eligible for the Poster Award (no nomination required). All E&HB papers are automatically considered for the Margo Wilson Award – no nomination required.

The HBES Rising Star Award

The HBES Rising Star Award is presented to outstanding HBES members in the earliest stages of their research careers post-PhD. This designation recognizes researchers whose innovative work has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions.

Anne Pisor, Department of Anthropology and Social Science Research Institute, Penn State University (Centre County, PA)

Anastasia Makhanova, Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR)

Damián Blasi, Centre for Brain & Cognition, Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain)

Zachary Garfield, Africa Institute for Research in Economics & Social Sciences, University Mohammed IV Polytechnic (Rabat, Morocco)

2023

Khandis Blake, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Daniel Conroy-Beam, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, UC Santa Barbara, USA

Jaimie Arona Krems, Department of Psychology, UCLA (formerly OCEAN, Oklahoma State University), USA

Michael Muthukrishna, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSA, UK

Patrick Savage, Department of Environmental and Information Studies, Keio University, Japan

Individuals being considered for the HBES Rising Star designation are evaluated for their promise of excellence in research based on the following criteria:

  • significant discoveries, methodological innovations, or theoretical or empirical contributions
  • work with potentially broad impact
  • significant publications
  • significant recognitions
  • demonstrated independence from mentors

Nominations for the HBES Rising Star Award should include the nominee’s curriculum vita and a one-page (maximum) statement about the nominee’s worthiness. Statements must be on university letterhead with 12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins. This nomination letter should include the following information:

  • What are the general themes of the nominee’s major lines of research?
  • What are the important research findings discovered by the nominee?
  • To what extent have the nominee’s contributions generated research in the field?

Please note: The award is subject to the following limitation: The nominee must be an HBES member and must be no more than eight years post-PhD by May of the year of their nomination. Self-nominations are acceptable.

Nominations will be due online yearly on March 1. This was a new award for HBES that began in 2023.

The Rising Star Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most five outstanding individuals per year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

The HBES Fellow Award

This Award will confer Fellow status upon HBES members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the study or teaching of evolution and human behavior, or to the service of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. 

Bernhard Fink, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna (Vienna, Austria)

Christopher Von Rueden, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond (Richmond, VA)

Coren Apicella, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)

Dario Maestripieri, Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

David Lewis, School of Psychology, Murdoch University (Perth, Australia)

Jon Maner, Department of Psychology, Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL)

2023

David Puts, Department of Anthropology, Penn State University, USA

Daniel Sznycer, OCEAN, Oklahoma State University, USA

Joshua Tybur, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands

Starting in 2023, HBES Fellow status has been awarded to HBES members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the study and/or teaching of evolution and human behavior, and/or to the service of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Fellows are expected to maintain ethical standards.

Nominations for HBES Fellows should include the nominee’s curriculum vita and a short nomination letter (1,500 words, max) answering up to three prompts regarding the nominee’s worthiness based upon some combination of their research excellence, teaching excellence, and/or excellence in service to HBES. Statements should be on university letterhead. Nomination letters can outline contributions to multiple areas or to a single area, wherein nominators explain the nominee’s:

  • sustained, outstanding scientific contributions to the study of evolution and human behavior and/or
  • sustained, outstanding teaching contributions in the area of evolution and human behavior and/or
  • sustained, outstanding service contributions to the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.

Please note: This award is subject to the following limitation: the nominee must be an HBES member and must be at least 10 years post-PhD by the year of their nomination. Self-nominations are welcome.

Nominations will be due online yearly on March 1.

This award is not necessarily conferred every year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution

The Early Career Award recognizes excellent young scientists who have made distinguished theoretical and/or empirical contributions to the study of evolution and human behavior.

2024 Laith Al-Shawaf
Department of Psychology
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Colorado, USA

2023 Michael Muthukrishna
Department of Psychological & Behavioural Science
London School of Economics
2022 Damian Murray
Department of Psychology
Tulane University
2021 Willem Frankenhuis
Department of Psychology
Utrecht University, Utrecht
2020 Katherine McAuliffe
Department of Psychology
Boston College
2019 Brendan Zietsch
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
2018 Josh Tybur
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
2017 Coren Apicella
Department of Psychology
University of Pennsylvania, USA
2016 Marco Del Giudice
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico, USA
barclay2015 Pat Barclay
Department of Psychology
University of Guelph, Canada
griskevicius2014 Vladas Griskevicius
Carson School of Management
University of Minnesota
puts2013 David A. Puts
Department of Anthropology
Pennsylvania State University, USA
debruine2012 Lisa DeBruine
Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology
University of Glasgow, UK
gurven2010 Michael Gurven
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
henrich2009 Joseph Henrich
Department of Psychology
University of British Columbia, Canada
kurzban2008 Rob Kurzban
Department of Psychology
University of Pennsylvania

The nomination letter should include the following information:

  • What are the general themes of the nominee’s major lines of research?
  • What are the important research findings discovered by the nominee?
  • To what extent have the nominee’s contributions generated research in the field?

Nominations for the HBES Early Career Award should include a statement about the worthiness of the nominee, curriculum vita of the nominee, a recent complete bibliography, and no more than five reprints representative of the nominee’s contributions. Statements should be no more than one page, with 12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins, and should be on university letterhead.

Please note: The award is subject to the following limitation: The nominee must be an HBES member and must be no more than ten years post-Ph.D. Self-nominations are acceptable.

Nominations should be submitted ONLINE yearly by March 1.

Notes: the Early Career Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most one person per year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution

The HBES Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution is awarded to HBES members who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in evolution and human behavior.

(no award made)

2023 Joseph Carroll
Department of English
University of Missouri – St. Louis
St. Louis, MO, USA
2022 Douglas Kenrick
Department of Psychology
Arizona State University, USA
2021 Hillard Kaplan
Economic Science Institute
School of Pharmacy
The George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics
Chapman University, USA
2020 David Perrett
School of Psychology & Neuroscience
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK
2019 Bobbi Low
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
David Buss2018 David Buss
Department of Psychology
University of Texas, Austin, USA
boydricherson2017 Robert Boyd & Peter Richerson
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University, USA
Department of Environmental Science and Policy
University of California Davis, USA
ToobyCosmides2016 Leda Cosmides & John Tooby
Center for Evolutionary Psychology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
nesse2015 Randy Nesse
Center for Evolution and Medicine
Arizona State University, USA
2014 (no award made)
hrdy2013 Sarah Hrdy
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Davis, USA
lancaster2012 Jane Lancaster
Department of Anthropology
University of New Mexico, USA
irons2011 William Irons
Department of Anthropology
Northwestern University, USA
chagnon2010 Napoleon Chagnon
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
daly_wilson2009 Martin Daly and Margo Wilson
Department of Psychology
McMaster University, Canada
alexander2008 Richard Alexander
Museum of Zoology
University of Michigan, USA

Nominations are open for the HBES Lifetime Career award. If you wish to nominate an HBES member, please follow these guidelines. Nominations for these awards should include a letter of nomination, a curriculum vita, a recent complete bibliography, up to five representative reprints and the names and addresses of several scientists familiar with the nominee’s work.

  • What has been the significant and enduring influence of the nominee’s research?
  • What historical contribution has the nominee’s research made to the field?
  • Compare the nominee with others in her/his field.
  • What influence has the nominee had on students and others in the same field of study?
  • Where possible, please identify the nominee’s students by name.

Nominations should be submitted ONLINE yearly by March 1. The nominee must be an HBES Member, or have a history of being an HBES Member (e.g., regular member before retirement).

Notes: the Lifetime Career Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most one person per year or, in rare cases, to a collaborative team whose joint, lifetime work constitutes a Distinguished Scientific Contribution. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Don Symons Adaptationism Award

Created in 2023, the Don Symons Adaptationism Award is bestowed for the best paper exemplifying the adaptationist program.  Papers written or published by HBES Members in the last three years are eligible. To be considered, the paper and a letter nominating it (preferably from someone other than the authors) should be submitted online by March 1. Nomination letters must be no more than one page (12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins). The same paper can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Submit nomination materials here by March 1.

Thom Scott-Phillips

Scott-Phillips, T. (2022). Biological adaptations for cultural transmission? Biology Letters, 18, 20220439.

2023: There were three winners for the inaugural year

Annie Wertz

Wertz, A. E. (2019). How plants shape the mind. Trends in cognitive sciences, 23(7), 528-531.

Joshua Schrock et al.

Schrock, J. M., Snodgrass, J. J., & Sugiyama, L. S. (2020). Lassitude: The emotion of being sick. Evolution and Human Behavior, 41(1), 44-57.

James Roney

Roney, J. R. (2023). Hormones and human mating. In D.M. Buss (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human mating, Oxford University Press.

Margo Wilson Award

An annual award made by the editors of Evolution and Human Behavior for best paper published in the journal in the previous year.

2024

Winner: Redhead, D., Dalla Ragione, A., & Ross, C.T. (2023). Friendship and partner choice in rural Colombia. Evolution and Human Behavior, 44(5), 430-441.

Honorable mention: Delton, A.W., Jaeggi, A.V., Lim, J., Sznycer, D., Gurven, M., Robertson, T.E., Sugiyama, L.S., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2023). Cognitive foundations for helping and harming others: making welfare tradeoffs in industrialized and small-scale societies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 44(5), 485-501.

2023 Singh, M., & Glowacki, L. (2022). Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian model. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(5), 418-431.

2022 Gerdemann, S. C., & Wertz, A. E. (2021). 18-month-olds use different cues to categorize plants and artifacts. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(4), 304-315.

2021 Schrock, J. M., Snodgrass, J. J., & Sugiyama, L. S. (2020). Lassitude: The emotion of being sick. Evolution and Human Behavior, 41, 44-57.

2020 Conroy-Beam, D., Roney, J. R., Lukaszewski, A. W., Buss, D.M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., et al. [105 others] (2019). Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation. Evolution & Human Behavior, 40 (5), 479-491.

2019 Kyweluk, M. A., Georgiev, A. V., Borja, J. B., Gettler, L. T., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2018). Menarcheal timing is accelerated by favorable nutrition but unrelated to developmental cues of mortality or familial instability in Cebu, Philippines. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(1), 76-81.

2018 Coren Apicella, Alyssa C. Crittenden, & Victoria A. Tobolsky (2017). Hunter-gatherer males are more risk-seeking than females, even in late childhood. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(5), 592-603.

2017 Adar B. Eisenbruch, Rachel L. Grillot, Dario Maestripieri & James R. Roney (2016). Evidence of partner choice heuristics in a one-shot bargaining game. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(6), 429-439.

2016 Rachel Kendal, Lydia M. Hopper, Andrew Whiten, Sarah F. Brosnan, Susan P. Lambeth, Steven J. Schapiro & Will Hoppitt (2015). Chimpanzees copy dominant and knowledgeable individuals: implications for cultural diversity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(1), 65-72.

2015a Casey J. Roulette, Hayley Mann, Brian M. Kemp, Mark Remiker, Jennifer W. Roulette, Barry S. Hewlett, Mirdad Kazanji, Sébastien Breurec, Didier Monchy, Roger J. Sullivan & Edward H. Hagen (2014). Tobacco use vs. helminths in Congo basin hunter-gatherers: self-medication in humans? Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(5), 397-407.

2015b James Holland Jones & Rebecca Bliege Bird (2014). The marginal valuation of fertility. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(1), 65-71.

2014 Jeffrey Winking & Nicholas Mizer (2013). Natural-field dictator game shows no altruistic giving. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(4), 288–293.

2013 Maciej Chudek, Sarah Heller, Susan Birch & Joseph Henrich (2012). Prestige-biased cultural learning: bystander’s differential attention to potential models influences children’s learning. Evolution and Human Behavior,  33, 46–56.

2012 Alex Mesoudi (2011). An experimental comparison of human social learning strategies: Payoff-biased social learning is adaptive but under-used. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 334–342.

2011 David A. Puts (2010). Beauty and the beast: mechanisms of sexual selection in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 157–175.

2010 Andreas Wilke & Clark Barrett (2009). The hot hand phenomenon as a cognitive adaptation to clumped resources. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 161-169.

Conference Awards

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society also recognizes scholarly contributions during the annual conference. The HBES Conference Awards include the New Investigator Award (intended for students), the Post-Doctoral Award (intended for recent PhDs), and the Best Poster Award.

You are eligible for the Post-Doctoral Award up to five years post-Ph.D as of the submission date. You are eligible for the New Investigator Award if you are currently a student, or were a student at the time of the work and have graduated within a year of abstract/paper submission. When you submit your abstract for the conference, you must indicate that you want to be considered for these awards.

Additionally, to be eligible for the New Investigator or Post-Doctoral Awards, individuals must submit a manuscript corresponding with the abstract they have submitted for a talk. Your manuscript can have co-authors, but you must be the first author on the manuscript, and the manuscript must predominantly describe your own work. Note that the manuscript can be “in prep” (e.g., a pre-print), under review, accepted for publication, or recently published. Submission will occur via conference organizers yearly.

All posters at the conference will be automatically eligible for the Best Poster Award. You need not contact conference organizers to be considered for the Best Poster Award, nor do you need to submit a paper.

Previous winners are listed on Previous Conferences section of the Conferences tab – click on the relevant conference to see the winners at that conference.