Beryl Radin Award

Best article in JPART, decided every year since the mid-2000s, and one of the most competitive honors in the field.

JPART (the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory) is the discipline’s flagship journal, which means the Beryl Radin Award is picking the single best piece of work published in the field’s most closely watched venue that year. It’s a snapshot, every year, of where the smartest empirical and theoretical thinking in public management is happening.

2026 Winners

“How Ensembling AI and Public Managers Improves Decision-Making” (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 35, No. 3, July 2025, pp. 261–276).

Florian Keppeler

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART)

Jana Borchert

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART)

Mogens Jin Pedersen

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART)

Vibeke Lehmann Nielsen

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART)

2026 Honorable Mention

“Making Administrative Work Matter in Public Service Delivery: A Lens for Linking Practice with the Purpose of Office” (JPART, Vol. 35, No. 1, January 2025, pp. 15–28).

Kirstine Karmsteen

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART)

Their article investigates how combining artificial intelligence with the judgment of public managers produces better decisions than either approach alone. The selection committee recognized it for its empirical rigor and its direct relevance to one of the most pressing governance challenges of the moment.

Kirstine Karmsteen’s honorable mention was commended for its conceptual originality in connecting frontline administrative work to broader institutional purposes.

Eligible articles must have been published in JPART during the applicable award year.

Eligible articles are identified and reviewed by the award committee.

Articles are evaluated based on scholarly contribution, theoretical advancement, methodological rigor, and relevance to public management research.

The award is presented at the 2026 Public Management Research Conference, June 4–6, 2026, at American University in Washington, D.C.

Sebawit Bishu, University of Washington

2025 | Jessica Lasky-Fink and Elizabeth Linos
“Improving Delivery of the Social Safety Net: The Role of Stigma” (JPART, 34(2), 270–283).

2024 | Mihaly Fazekas, Romain Ferrali, and Johannes Wachs
Agency Independence, Campaign Contributions, and Favoritism in US Federal Government Contracting.

2023 | Seulki Lee
When Tensions Become Opportunities: Managing Accountability Demands in Collaborative Governance,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 32(4), 641-655.

2022 | Simon Calmar Andersen and Ulrik Hvidman
“Can Reminders and Incentives Improve Implementation Within Government? Evidence from a Field Experiment,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 31(1), 234-249.

2021 | Justine E. Tinkler, and Jun Zhao
“The Sexual Harassment of Federal Employees: Gender, Leadership Status, and Organizational Tolerance for Abuses of Power.” 30, no. 3 (2020): 349-364. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

2020 | John B. Holbein & Hans JG Hassell
When Your Group Fails: The Effect of Race-Based Performance Signals on Citizen Voice and Exit. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(2), 268-286

2018 | Sebastian Jilke & Lars Tummers
Which Clients are Deserving of Help? A Theoretical Model and Experimental Test? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 28 (2), 226-238.

2017 | Sounman Hong
Black in Blue: Racial Profiling and Representative Bureaucracy in Policing Revisited. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27 (4),547-561.

2016 | Christine Kelleher Palus & Susan Webb Yackee
Clerks or Kings? Partisan Alignment and Delegation to the US Bureaucracy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 26 (4), 693-708.

2015 | Richard M. Walker & Rhys Andrews
Local Government Management and Performance: A Review of the Evidence. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25 (1), 101-133.

2014 | Jason Grissom
Is Discord Detrimental? Using Institutional Variation to Identify the Impact of Public Governing Board Conflict on Outcomes. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24 (2), 289-315.

2013 | Kenneth J. Meier & Laurence J. O’Toole, Jr.
Subjective Organizational Performance and Measurement Error: Common Source Bias and Spurious Relationships. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23 (2), 429-456.

2012 | Stéphane Lavertu, Daniel E. Walters, & David L. Weimer
Scientific Expertise and the Balance of Political Interests: MEDCAC and Medicare Coverage Decisions. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22 (1), 55-81.

2011 | Joe Soss, Richard Fording, & Sanford F. Schram
The Organization of Discipline: From Performance Management to Perversity and Punishment. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21 (supplement 2), i203-i232.

2010 | Carolyn J. Heinrich
Third-Party Governance Under No Child Left Behind Accountability and Performance Management Challenges. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20 (supplement 1), i59-i80.

2009 – Keith G. Provan, Kung Huang, & H. Brinton Milward
The Evolution of Structural Embeddedness and Organization Social Outcomes in a Centrally Governed Health and Human Services Network. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19 (4), 873-893.

2008 | Christopher M. Reenock & Brian J. Gerber
Political Insulation Information Exchange, and Interest Group Access to the Bureaucracy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 18 (3), 415-440.

2007 | David M. Van Slyke
Agents or Stewards: Using Theory to Understand the Government-Nonprofit Social Service Contracting Relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17 (2), 157-187.

2006 | Carolyn Hill
Casework Job Design and Client Outcomes in Welfare-to-Work Offices. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16 (2), 263-288.

2005 | Young Han Chun & Hal G. Rainey
Goal Ambiguity in U.S. Federal Agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15 (1), 1-30.

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