SACM - Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research

The Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SACM) has made it its goal to support young researchers by making available a yearly award for an outstanding dissertation project. The SACM Dissertation Prize is addressed to young researchers in or from Switzerland who have completed their PhD thesis in communication and media research in the past twelve months. Closing date for applications is in December. A summary of the awarded thesis will be published in our journal SComS.

Call for applications 2025 (in German)

Call for applications 2025 (in French)

Call for applications 2025 (in Italian)

 

Winner of the 2024 Dissertation Prize:

• Tobias Rohrbach (University of Fribourg and University of Amsterdam) with the thesis "Media-based Mechanisms of Gendered Evaluations of Politicians"

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Colin Porlezza (chair of the jury; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Alexandra Feddersen (University of Fribourg), Matthias Künzler (FH Graubünden and FU Berlin), Florence Van Hove (SACM executive board; University of Fribourg), Sophia Charlotte Volk (representative of junior scholars; University of Zurich).

 

Winner of the 2023 Dissertation Prize:

• Niels G. Mede (University of Zurich) with the thesis "Science-related populism: Conceptualization, empirical investigation, and implications for science communication"

> Summary in SComS

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Colin Porlezza (chair of the jury; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Guido Keel (ZHAW Winterthur), Matthias Künzler (FH Graubünden), Thilo von Pape (University of Fribourg), Florence Van Hove (SACM executive board; University of Fribourg), Michelle Möri (representative of junior scholars; University of Fribourg).

 

Winner of the 2022 Dissertation Prize:

• Rana Khaled Arafat (Università della Svizzera italiana) with the thesis "Rethinking Digital Media Use for Diasporic Political Participation: An Investigation into Journalism Advocacy, Digital Activism, and Democratic Divides".

> Summary in SComS

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Peter Seele (chair of the Jury; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Laura Illia (University of Fribourg), Sébastien Salerno (Université de Genève), Wibke Weber (ZHAW Winterthur), Katharina Lobinger (SACM executive board; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Tobias Rohrbach (representative of junior scholars; University of Fribourg).

 

Winner of the 2021 Dissertation Prize:

• Sina Blassnig (University of Zurich) with the thesis "Populist Online Communication. Interactions among Politicians, Journalists, and Citizens".

> Summary in SComS

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Peter Seele (chair of the Jury; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Laura Illia (Université de Fribourg), Colin Porlezza (USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Katharina Lobinger (SACM executive board; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Tobias Rohrbach (representative of junior scholars; University of Fribourg).

 

Winner of the 2020 Dissertation Prize:

• Florence Van Hove (University of Fribourg) with the thesis "Médias d'actualité, journalistes et publics sur Twitter: vers un renouvellement des relations?"

> Summary in SComS

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Peter Seele (Chair of the Jury; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Laura Illia (Université de Fribourg), Natascha Just (University of Zurich), Katharina Lobinger (SGKM executive board; USI Università della Svizzera italiana), Colin Porlezza (representative of junior scholars; City University of London).

 

Winners of the 2019 Dissertation Prizes:

• Stefanie Hangartner (University of Zurich) with the thesis "Legitimation management for publicly funded media" (category A: sabbatical).
• Silke Fürst (University of Freiburg) with the thesis "The Audience is the Message. Media discourses and ideas about the audience" (category B: publication grant)

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Frank Esser (University of Zurich), Dominique Bourgeois (University of Fribourg), Peter Seele (University of Lugano).

 

Winners of the 2018 Dissertation Prizes:

• Dominique Wirz (University of Zurich) with the thesis "Populism in a multi-country comparison" (category A: sabbatical).
• Franzisca Schmidt (University of Bern) with the thesis "Populist communication and the role of the media in the 2014 European election campaign" (category B: publication grant).

Our thanks for reviewing the applications go to the jury members Frank Esser (University of Zurich), Dominique Bourgeois (University of Fribourg), Peter Seele (University of Lugano).

Since 2018, our journal Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) grants an annual Best Paper Award. It honors the best paper published in the journal in the General Section or a Thematic Section.

The editors preselect up to eight published SComS papers and organize a peer-review with jurors from outside the editorial team who rank quality of the papers independently from each other.

The award winner is announced at the annual conference of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SACM).

The Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research (SACM) rewards outstanding scientific research by offering a Best Presentation Award for a contribution to the annual SACM conference. This prize is dedicated to the memory of Prof Dr Ulrich Saxer, the first president of the SACM. Until 2024, the prize was financed by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation, since then by Urs Saxer, Ulrich Saxer's son. At each annual conference, a jury is appointed which bases its decision on the reviews of the submitted abstracts and additionally evaluates the actual presentations. A winner is then selected by combining the review results and the presentation evaluation. The award is endowed with 500 CHF per presentation.

Regulations of the Saxer Award for the best presentation at the SACM annual conference (in German)

 

Winner of the Best Presentation Award by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation at the 2024 annual conference:

• Catherine Quiroga (University Toulouse III): Résilience info-communicationnelle des publics marginalisés en contexte de controverse

Winner of the Best Presentation Award by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation at the 2023 annual conference:

• Silke Fürst (University of Zurich): "Fake it until you make it" - was Generalanzeiger des 19. Jahrhunderts uns über den Wettbewerb um Aufmerksamkeit verraten

Winner of the Best Presentation Award by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation at the 2022 annual conference:

• Michael Reiss (University of Zurich): Non-Exposure to Online News – Evidence from Combining Tracking, Survey and Automated Text Classification.

No prizes were awarded in 2020 and 2021.

Winner of the Best Presentation Award by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation at the 2019 annual conference:

• Vera Lenz-Kesekamp (University of St. Gallen): Inhaltsanalyse von persuasiver Kommunikation in Push Notifications von Schweizer Branded Apps.

Winners of the Best Presentation Award by the Ulrich Saxer Foundation at the 2018 annual conference:

• Fabienne Bünzli (University of St. Gallen): From Getting the Word out to Sitting at the Round Table. Examining Strategy Implementation in Swiss & German Nonprofit Organizations based on a Communication Typology.
• Florence Van Hove (University of Fribourg-Freiburg): Critical participation on Twitter: a comparative analysis of online news comments in 15 media discussion threads in Switzerland, France and Belgium.