2026 Paper Competition Winners

Undergraduate Paper Competition Winners

First Place: Kaitlyn Wilks, Colorado College
Paper Title: “More Than a Trip Around the Sun: A Sociological Analysis of Successful Aging and Functional Independence”

Second Place: Ryann Yang, Virginia Tech
Paper Title: “Prestige as Capital: How Ivy League Merit Becomes Structural Advantage”

Third Place: Xinyi Zheng, Macalester College
Paper Title: “Unboxing Relations: An Ethnographic Study of Blind Box Consumption in the U.S.”

Graduate Paper Competition Winners

First Place: Armin Sauermann, Washington University in St. Louis
Paper Title: “Social Ties, Not Threat: Explaining Variation in Gun Ownership in the United States”

Second Place: Rachel Springer, Portland State University
Paper Title: “Disability, Community Care, and Disaster Justice: A Research Framework”

Third Place: Thalia Tom, University of Southern California
Paper Title: “Examining Links Between Neighborhood Disadvantage and School Readiness”