“Hoping to get an avalanche of Christmas cards and holiday letters this year? There’s just one rule: send out a pile of your own,”  TSP’s Letta Page explained in her write-up of November’s Media Award winner.

In the award-winning article, “Give And Take: How The Rule Of Reciprocation Binds Us,” KERA News’ Alix Spiegel explains how sociologist Phillip Kunz went about sending 600 Christmas letters to strangers…and received many back in return, illustrating the rule of reciprocation.

 As we’ve said before, the choice of each month’s TSP Media Award is neither scientific nor exhaustive, but we do work hard to winnow our favorite nominees.  And, while we don’t have the deep pocketbooks to offer enormous trophies or cash prizes, we hope our informal award offers encouragement for journalists and social scientists to keep up the important work of bringing academic knowledge to the broader public.