Eligibility Requirements

• All reports relating to clinical practice authored and published in PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal during the current year are eligible. Primary authors of reports who were students at the time of publication are eligible, provided that the studies were not undertaken for any obligatory academic or degree requirements. All types of journal reports related to clinical practice are eligible, including case reports, clinical perspectives, technical reports, updates, and research reports that have meaningful impact on clinical practice. Special series reports and invited literature reviews are also eligible.
• First authors of eligible papers must have been an APTA member at the time of the manuscript's publication and at the time of nomination. First authors need not have been an APTA member at the time of data collection and manuscript preparation.
• Candidates can be eligible for either the Jack Walker Award or Chattanooga Research Award for a given article; the same article may not be nominated for both of the awards.

Criteria for Selection

The article must:

• Make an important contribution to the understanding of clinical practice and patient care, or illuminate issues related to patient care and advance the clinical science underlying physical therapist practice; and be able to be judged primarily on the basis of its impact on clinical practice.
• Provide information that can assist others in delivering physical therapist services.
• Contain clear descriptions of clinical procedures or approaches that can be understood by others, and contain supportive rationales for, and experiences with, the procedure or approaches used.

A strong application should demonstrate the following:

An important contribution to the understanding of clinical practice and patient care, or illumination of issues related to patient care and advances in clinical science underlying physical therapy practice, which can be judged primarily on the basis of its impact on clinical practice while addressing:

• Contributions to patient care.
• Advances the clinical science of physical therapist practice.
• Impact on clinical practice.

Provision of information that can assist others in delivering physical therapist services.

Clear descriptions of clinical procedures or approaches that can be understood by others and that contain supportive rationales for, and experiences with, the procedure or approaches used.

What Recipients Receive

A plaque and a monetary award of $1,000 with be presented to the author(s) by APTA's Board of Directors at an APTA national event, and an official announcement will appear in an association publication. Note: If a paper has multiple authors, each author who is eligible for the award will be considered a co-recipient of the award, and the monetary award will be divided equally among the co-recipients.

Submission Requirements

During the online submission process, the following documents will be required for upload:

• Eligibility form.
• Abstract.
• Electronic copy of article.

Submit a Nomination

The nominations call for the Honors and Awards program is open Sept. 1- Dec. 1. Nominations must be submitted through our online portal by Dec. 1; late submissions will not be considered. Selected recipients and their nominators will be notified in May.

Additional Resources

For questions regarding the nomination process or the award, please contact honorsandawards@apta.org.