ACA Announces the Winners of the 2021 American Counseling Association Awards

The American Counseling Association and the American Counseling Association Foundation are pleased to announce that a field of 77 counseling professionals, counseling students and individuals serving the counseling profession received top honors in the 2021 ACA Awards program.

The annual American Counseling Association Awards, created to recognize the best among the counseling profession’s students, counselors in practice and ACA members, acknowledge those who have made extraordinary contributions to the counseling profession.

This year, nine counselors were granted ACA Fellow status, the highest honor awarded by the American Counseling Association. In addition, the achievements of 77 professional counselors and ACA members were recognized with ACA National Awards.

In the ACA Graduate Student Awards of Excellence program, 11 graduate-level counseling students earned high honors in the ACA Future School Counselors and Tomorrow’s Counselors essay competitions. In addition, seven graduate student teams took top spots in the ACA Graduate Student Ethics Awards essay competitions.

The award recipients are being recognized at the ACA Virtual Conference Experience throughout the month of April.

The American Counseling Association thanks everyone who participated in this year’s ACA Awards program—the judges/reviewers, nominators and all who were nominated or applied for the awards—and offers warm congratulations to the winners!

2021 ACA Fellows
Dr. William Cox
Dr. Suzanne Dugger
Dr. Kimberly Frazier
Dr. Kristopher Goodrich
Dr. Natoya Haskins
Dr. Nicole Hill
Dr. Garret McAuliffe
Dr. Mark Scholl
Dr. Heather Trepal 

2021 ACA National Awards
ACA Research Award:
Dr. Matt Fullen
Dr. Gerard Lawson
Jyotsana Sharma

ACA State Branch Advocacy Award: V
Virginia Counselors Association

Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award:
Jose Tapia-Fuselier

Best Practices in Research Award for Faculty:
Dr. Madeline Clark

Carl D. Perkins Government Relations Award:
Duane France

Counselor Educator Advocacy Award:
Dr. Erika Cameron

Courtland C. Lee Multicultural Excellence Scholarship Award:
Ashlei Rabess

David K. Brooks, Jr. Distinguished Mentor Award:
Dr. W. Bryce Hagedorn

Don Dinkmeyer Social Interest Award:
Marriage and Family Research Institute under the leadership of Dr. Sejal Barden and Dr. Dalena Dillman Taylor

Dr. Judy Lewis Counselors for Social Justice Award:
Dr. Ebony White

Extended Research Award:
Dr. Danica Hays

Federal Legislative Service Award:
Rep. Mike Thompson

Garry R. Walz Trailblazer Award:
Dr. Ashley Blount

Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award:
Dr. Judy Green

Glen E. Hubele National Graduate Student Award:
Olivia Ngadjui

Kitty Cole Human Rights Award:
Dr. Reshelle Marino

Professional Development Award:
Dr. Stephen Lenz

Ralph F. Berdie Memorial Research Award:
Chelsea Scoffone

Robert H. Rencken Emerging Professional Leader Award:
Dr. Rebecca Pender Baum

Samuel T. Gladding Unsung Heroes Award:
Erin Frock

Thomas Hohenshil National Publication Award:
Dr. Samuel T. Gladding
Dr. Gerald Corey

Thomas J. Sweeney Award for Visionary Leadership and Advocacy:
Dr. Donna Gibson

2021 ACA Graduate Student Awards of Excellence

ACA Future School Counselors Awards
Grand Prize: Margaret Latta-Milord
First Prize: Austin Laws, Verna Estoque (tie)
Honorable Mention:
James Harris
Kellie Lewis
Cha-Lisa Johnson

ACA Tomorrow’s Counselors Awards
Grand Prize: Adriana Labarta
First Prize:Devon Boyers
Second Prize: Theresa Schmidt
Honorable Mention:
Alix Jansma
Christine Banks-VanAllen

ACA Graduate Student Ethics Awards for Master’s Degree Students
First Place: New Jersey City University (NJ)
Second Place: Central Michigan University (MI), Grand View University (IA) (tie)
Third Place: University of Florida (FL)

ACA Graduate Student Ethics Awards for Doctoral Degree Students
First Place: Montclair State University (NJ)
Second Place: University of Texas at Austin (TX)
Third Place: Lindsey Wilson College (KY)