Heredity announces 2020 best student paper prize

Artistic representation of DNA double helix and base pairs

The 2020 Heredity best student-led paper prize has been awarded to Donald McKnight, from James Cook University..  This is the first prize to be awarded form this new initiative to encourage students to submit material to the journal.

The quality of papers was in general very high and thanks are extended to all of the authors for submitting their research to Heredity specifically congratulate those contributing to the long- and short-listed papers.

Finalists
Winner
Donald McKnight, James Cook University, Australia
Infection dynamics, dispersal, and adaptation: understanding the lack of recovery in a remnant frog population following a disease outbreak

Runners up
Kerry Gendreau, Virginia Tech University, USA
Sex linkage of the skeletal muscle sodium channel gene (SCN4A) explains apparent deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium of tetrodotoxin-resistance alleles in garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis)
Kyle Ewart, University of Sydney, Australia
Phylogeography of the iconic Australian red-tailed black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) and implications for its conservation

Honourable Mentions
Best paper by a student from a Lower and Middle Income Country
Mateus Ribeiro Mota, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil
From micro- to macroevolution: insights from a Neotropical bromeliad with high population genetic structure adapted to rock outcrops

Best theory paper led by a student 
Léa Boyrie, Université Paul Sabatier, France
A linkage disequilibrium-based statistical test for Genome-Wide Epistatic Selection Scans in structured populations

Short-listed
Xinxing Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
DNA methylation mediates differentiation in thermal responses of Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) derived from different tidal levels
Camilla Avanzi, University of Parma, Italy
Individual reproductive success in Norway spruce natural populations depends on growth rate, age and sensitivity to temperature

Long-listed
Ashley Sendell-Price, University of Oxford, UK
Rapid morphological divergence following a human-mediated introduction: the role of drift and directional selection
Michael P. Shahandeh, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
The complex genetic architecture of male mate choice evolution between Drosophila species
Annalaura Jokiniemi, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Gamete-level immunogenetic incompatibility in humans–towards deeper understanding of fertilization and infertility?
Marianne Gagnon, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
Adult survival in migratory caribou is negatively associated with MHC functional diversity