The Kenneth Black Jr. Journal Author Award was created in 1988 by the Foundation board of trustees to advance scholarly research and writing and to build the library of knowledge in financial services. The award accomplishes these objectives by recognizing the top three articles published in the Journal of Financial Service Professionals each year. Articles are selected for commendation by an independent panel of judges based on originality of the research, clarity of the writing, timeliness of the subject matter, and appropriateness for the Journal’s readership. Monetary awards of $1,500, $1000, and $500, respectively, are presented to the winning authors. The award program is named for Kenneth Black Jr., PhD, CLU, who served as the Journal’s editor from 1959 through 2001.

Authors, practitioners, and scholars are invited to consider submitting an article for possible publication in the Journal— and possible recognition with a Author Award. Each submitted article is sent to expert reviewers who then send their comments to the editor for a final determination on acceptance for publication. To guarantee the integrity of the process, the reviews are done blindly; that is, the reviewers do not know the identity of the author and vice versa. Articles published in the Journal are copyrighted by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.