Recommendations for the Distinguished Public Service Award are presented by the Awards Committee to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors for approval at the first board meeting of the year. The award is then presented by the president of the Division.
The Board of Directors shall use the following resources as sources of recommendation for the selection of possible recipients of the Distinguished Public Service Award:
- The APA Practice Directorate
- State Psychological Associations in the region where the Annual Convention is being held
- Congressional Fellows of APA
It is desirable to coordinate selection of awardees with the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Management Group of APA.
Award History — Distinguished Public Service Award
- 1984 U.S. Representative Claude Pepper
- 1985 Senator Alan Cranston
- 1986 Donald Ian MacDonald
- 1987 US Representative William Gray III
- 1988 Senator JD Rockefeller IV and US Representative Charles Rangel
- 1989 Bryant Welch and the APA Practice Directorate
- 1990 Patrick DeLeon
- 1991 Bruce Bronzan
- 1992 No award given
- 1993 Jack Wiggins
- 1994 APA Disaster Response Network
- 1995 No award given
- 1996 No award given
- 1997 Senator Pete V Domenici
- 1998 Russell Newman
- 1999 Senator Tom Harkin
- 2000 No award given
- 2001 Stephen Pfeiffer
- 2002 No award given
- 2003 Henry Saeman (posthumously)
- 2004 Michael Sullivan
- 2005 James Quillan
- 2006 Geoff Reed
- 2007 Lori Valencia Greene (APA Practice Directorate)
- 2008 Peter Sheras and Rhea Farberman
- 2009 Barbara V. Romberg
- 2011 Stephen Behnke
- 2012 Elaine Ducharme
- 2013 No award given
- 2014 G. Andrew H. Benjamin
- 2015 Arthur C. Evans, Jr.
- 2016 Josephine Johnson
- 2017 No award given
- 2018 No award given
- 2019 No award given
- 2020 Award discontinued by Board of Directors