ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2026 Paper of the Year Awards, recognizing exceptional scholarship published in SOPHE’s three peer-reviewed journals: Health Education & Behavior (HE&B), Health Promotion Practice (HPP), and Pedagogy in Health Promotion (PHP). These awards honor outstanding contributions to health education research, practice, and pedagogy that advance the field and promote health equity.
Health Education & Behavior (HE&B) Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year:
“The Impact of Social Norms on Diffusion Dynamics: A Simulation of E-Cigarette Use Behavior. Health Education & Behavior,” by Sarah E. Piombo, George G. Vega Yon, and Thomas W. Valente
This award recognizes the most outstanding health education paper of the year published in SOPHE’s journal, Health Education & Behavior.
Diffusion of innovations theory can be used to understand how to prevent or slow the spread of harmful behaviors, such as e-cigarette use in adolescent social networks. This study explores how different network intervention strategies could impact diffusion dynamics through network simulations based on observed social norms and e-cigarette use data.
“When I received the news about the award, I felt honored to receive the recognition among so many excellent papers published in HE&B,” said Piombo, who is a research fellow at Harvard University. “I appreciate the opportunity to share how social networks can be instrumental in changing health behaviors and I’m thankful for the work and support of my co-authors.”
Health Promotion Practice (HPP) Sarah Mazelis Paper of the Year:
“Public Enemy #1: How Many More?” by Carrie Rosario
This award recognizes the most outstanding health education paper published during the year in SOPHE’s journal Health Promotion Practice.
Public Enemy #1: How many more? explores historical and contemporary manifestations of the tobacco industry on public health, and specifically Black lives, in the United States. This is reinforced with bold text that serves as a mini poem within the poem, emphasizing tobacco’s impact on mortality. By juxtaposing messaging from the industry with Black American music (e.g., Hip Hop, R&B lyrics), TV culture references, and movements for racial justice, the poem provides an opportunity for critical analysis of the intersections between commercial tobacco, systemic racism, and capitalism. It counters narratives focused on personal responsibility and instead offers a complex, nuanced understanding of how systems of power intersect to harm communities.
“I was deeply humbled and genuinely surprised when I heard I was receiving this award,” said Rosario, an Assistant Professor at UNC Greensboro. “I have so much respect for Health Promotion Practice and the editorial board, so to have this poem published there already meant so much to me. Then, to have it recognized as Paper of the Year was incredibly moving, and I am filled with gratitude. Audre Lorde’s words about using our strength in service of our vision have stayed with me, and this recognition makes that feel especially meaningful.”
Pedagogy in Health Promotion (PHP) Paper of the Year:
“Development and Implementation of an Antiracist, Equity, and Inclusion Focused Syllabus Rubric in Graduate Public Health: A Foundational Framework,” Elizabeth Greenwell, Heather Kennedy, and Lori A. Crane
This award recognizes the most outstanding paper of the year published in Pedagogy in Health Promotion.
“It is truly a privilege and honor to receive SOPHE’s Pedagogy in Health Promotion Paper of the Year,” said Greenwell, who is an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. “This award highlights our work to create and advance foundational change in course syllabi for teaching faculty that focus on inclusion practices along with constructs based on teaching pedagogy, accessibility and critical praxis. This process occurred over the course of several years and was a collaborative effort enhanced by concurrent faculty professional development and critical self-reflection practices. Our school has been a leader in creating inclusive and welcoming environments for all students, including those from marginalized backgrounds. The syllabus rubric has helped provide an initial scaffold for best practices, and through its implementation and dissemination, faculty have become better prepared to meet the needs of an ever-changing public health student body.”
SOPHE will present all awards and scholarships to public health professionals, health education researchers, faculty, programs, and practitioners at the 2026 SOPHE Annual Conference in April in Portland. These awards and scholarships recognize significant advancements in the profession of health education and health promotion and outstanding contributions of well-established and rising stars to improving the public’s health.
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About SOPHE
The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is a nonprofit association that supports leaders in public health, health education and promotion to advance healthy and equitable communities across the globe. SOPHE members work in health care settings, communities, organizations, schools, universities, worksites, and in local, state and federal government agencies. For more information visit www.sophe.org.
