The American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology
The American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology supports individual psychologists and groups by honoring innovative work that brings transformational change to psychology.
This grant was recently updated
Nominations are now open, replacing the closed status for the 2026 program year, with a new deadline of January 29, 2027.
Funder: American Psychological Foundation
Due Dates: November 1, 2026 (2027 cycle opens) | January 29, 2027 (Nomination deadline)
Funding Amounts: Multiple awards of $1,000, each with a $1,000 travel stipend for the annual APA Convention
Summary: Recognizes individual psychologists or groups for impactful, innovative, and transformational contributions that change psychology.
Key Information: Self-nominations are prohibited, and previous APF Gold Medal recipients cannot be nominated.
Description
The American Psychological Foundation (APF) recognizes psychologists whose work has brought meaningful, innovative, and transformational change to psychology. The award honors either a sustained body of work in a particular field or a single pivotal contribution, rather than focusing solely on lifetime achievement. Individual psychologists and groups of psychologists can be recognized.
Nominations are welcomed across academic, scientific, practitioner, public-interest, and applied psychology. Examples of the kind of impact recognized include Evelyn Hooker’s work leading to the removal of homosexuality as a diagnosis from the DSM and David Barlow’s work in anxiety. APF particularly encourages nominations of psychologists whose outstanding research and impact have not been sufficiently recognized, as well as psychologists from diverse backgrounds.
