IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) was able to recognize the achievements of outstanding students, academics, and student chapters during its virtual Annual Meeting of Members in June. Although these awards couldn’t be bestowed in person, IMA is pleased to extend congratulations to these 2020-2021 recipients:

Academics:

• Ashley Stampone, CPA, The University of Scranton, won the Ursel K. Albers IMA Academic Mentor of the Year Award, which honors an academic mentor or student chapter advisor who has made significant contributions to IMA overall and IMA student members in particular.
• Kimberly Swanson Church, Ph.D., Missouri State University, won the R. Lee Brummet Award for Educators, which recognizes distinguished academics in the area of management accounting, particularly those with a record of scholarship in the field, service to IMA, and the promotion of management accounting as a profession. 
• Steven D. Smith, Ph.D., CMA, Brigham Young University, won the IMA Faculty Leadership Award, given to a faculty member who has demonstrated significant leadership activities at the national, regional, and/or local levels of IMA.

In addition to the above awards announced during the Annual Meeting of Members, IMA also announced the winners of the 2021 IECJ^® (IMA Educational Case Journal) Spring Short Case Writing Competition: 

• First Place Award ($1,000): “To make or not to make? That is the question,” by Sinéad Gallagher, Li Shen, and James Meersman (all at Juniata College) 
• Second Place Award ($500): “Principal or Agent? A Case of Managerial Judgment in Reporting Revenue,” by Thomas D’Angelo and Marco Lam (both at Western Carolina University) 
• Third Place Award ($300): “The Quest of Digital Transformation: A Value Chain and Balanced Scorecard Approach” by Junaitha Gaffoor and Desi Arisandi (Singapore Institute of Technology)

Students:

• Maeve Dow, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, author of “UNLV IMA Student Chapter – COVID-19 Edition,” won the Student Manuscript Award.
• John Velazquez, California State University, Bakersfield, was awarded $5,000 as this year’s Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Fund Scholarship winner, in recognition of his outstanding academic achievement and contributions to IMA.
• Jarom Hyde, Brigham Young University, was awarded $7,500 as the winner of the Century Student Scholarship, given to an outstanding student who attends a school endorsed by the IMA Higher Education Endorsement Program or an IMA student chapter member. 

In addition, the following students were awarded IMA Memorial Education Fund (MEF) Scholarships in acknowledgement of their academic merit and IMA service: Illuminada Oyana Asumu Obiang (La Salle University); Eveline Bogdanski (Indiana University Bloomington); Devon Cutter (DeVry University); Kyra Dias Audino (University of Nevada, Las Vegas); Fisayo Falokum (The University of Akron); Madelyn Haley (Culver-Stockton College); Katherine Hanus (Dixie State University); Quinn Johnson (Utah State University); Emily Richards (University of South Carolina); Ariel Stewart (Stark State College); and Jordan Thompson (Grand Canyon University). Awards for these scholarships ranged from $1,000 to $2,500.

Student Chapters:

• The following schools were selected as Outstanding Student Chapters in the Award of Excellence Competition, which recognizes the top student chapters that promote IMA's mission and vision statements as well as provide a broad spectrum of activities and services to their student members. Chapters at the following schools won an IMA Award of Excellence: 
• Outstanding Gold Chapters:
• Athens State University
• University of Hawai’i at Manoa
• The University of Jordan
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• The University of Scranton
• Gold Chapters:
• Culver-Stockton College
• Grand Canyon University
• Stark State College
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• Utah State University
• Valdosta State University
• Silver Chapter:
• Ashland University
• Bronze Chapters:
• Appalachian State University
• Missouri State University
• Teams of students from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and St. Aloysius College were selected as finalists in this year’s Student Case Competition. Each of the top four teams received $3,000. The winning team, from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was awarded an additional $2,000. Team members of the winning team were Ingrid Zarate-Albarran; Maeve Dow; Kiara Sims; D’Nasia Thompson; and Paul Wolf, with Daniel Siciliano, CMA, CFM, CPA, serving as faculty advisor. 
• The winner of the China Student Case Competition was Nankai University. Team members were Liu Ying; Hy Shuyu; Xu Nuo; Du YiHong; and Liu XiaoXuan, with Hong Bian serving as faculty advisor.
• The IMA student chapter at Stark State College won the Clark Johnson Achievement Award in recognition of its innovative achievement in meeting the needs of IMA regular and student members. They were awarded $5,000. This is the third consecutive year Stark State has won this award.

Upcoming Deadlines

Students are reminded that the first deadline (October 31) for the IMA Student Chapter Award of Excellence is approaching soon. This year, IMA will conduct the Award of Excellence Competition a little differently. All schools who submit for the Gold level and fulfill requirements will receive a monetary award of $500. Please make sure to read the complete rules before applying. A new Excel form has been created to try to streamline the submission. 

Commenting on this change, Jodi Ryan, CAE, IMA director of member engagement, said, “We’re implementing this change in recognition that it’s been a tough year for students and our student chapters. We hope that this monetary award will help to support the activities of these committed IMA student chapters.”

In addition, IMA is changing some elements of its Student Case Competition. Submissions will be required to be in PowerPoint format (not video). The top four teams will compete live at IMA’s Annual Conference & Expo in Austin next June, and teams will receive a stipend for travel expenses in addition to all team members earning a CMA Scholarship. The top team will take home $4,000 and the other teams will win $2,000. In addition, students can find the case for the 2022 Student Case Competition, “Maximizing Customer Value at the Cage,” in the August 2021 issue of Strategic Finance. Stay tuned for more information and submission details. 

Doctoral students should also be aware the IMA Research Foundation is now presenting two awards annually: The IMA Distinguished Scholar Award (previously known as the IMA Research Foundation Siegel Lifetime Achievement Award) and the IMA Emerging Scholar Award (previously known as the IMA Research Foundation Emerging Scholar Manuscript Award). The Foundation is accepting nominations for these awards from September 1 through January 31, 2022. The Foundation also recently introduced the IMA Doctoral Scholars Program (which replaces the Doctoral Summer Research Scholarship Program and the Doctoral Student Grant Program). Please visit the IMA Research Foundation website for more details.

The IMA website is the source for other information (including application forms and deadlines) related to all awards for students and student chapters and for academics.