To promote the use of spatial analysis and geographic techniques to study California planning and policy issues.

Submissions Requirements:

• Address a planning or policy research question relating to the California region.
• Include 3-5 maps that provide descriptive and analytical insights.
• Include a writeup with a project abstract, research question and discussion of findings, recommendations and conclusion (maximum 2 double-spaced pages).
• Submit as a PDF to the Lewis Center at lewiscenter@publicaffairs.ucla.edu.

Three contest winners will receive a stipend in the following amounts:

• 1st Place - $500
• 2nd Place - $300
• 3rd Place - $200

Projects should be submitted in PDF format by Wednesday, May 30 2012 at 5:00 p.m. to the Lewis Center via email at lewiscenter@publicaffairs.ucla.edu. Awards will be announced in June right before the end of the academic school year.

Submissions will be evaluated on research organization and methods as well as the use of GIS to produce descriptive and analytical insight regarding the policy question. The project does not need to be something that was produced exclusively in a GIS course.  Web-based projects are welcome to apply.  However, they need to be framed in the same manner as non-web based projects. This means each web-based submission should pose a policy question and use GIS techniques to answer this question.  Winners will be selected by a panel of GIS
researchers and faculty.*

Contest winners will be required to design a 27" x 40" (or proportional to that size) posterboard highlighting their project.  An electronic version will be posted to the Lewis Center website. All costs associated with producing these materials will be covered by the Lewis Center. The first place winner's poster will be featured in the Lewis Center during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Awardees must be enrolled in a Luskin School graduate program during Spring 2012.

For questions, please contact Norman Wong at wongn@publicaffairs.ucla.edu

*The Lewis Center reserves the right to make awards at their discretion based on the quality of projects submitted.

Past GIS Award Winner Archive