FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- June 12, 2013 Contact: Dr. Mark D. Johns, Executive Director Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research c/o Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA 52101 Tel: (563) 387-1347 email: mjohns@luther.edu Yeshua-Katz Winner of Couch Award DECORAH, Iowa -- Daphna Yeshua-Katz, Ph.D. in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington, is the winner of the 2013 Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Award is presented annually by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) and recognizes excellent student-authored papers. Yeshua-Katz's paper, "Beyond the Backstage: Boundary Work in the Pro-ana Community" explores blogs in an online community for people with eating disorders. Her work reveals that in order to protect these virtual groups and resist the stigma associated with their illness, bloggers construct their own unique norms and rules. Because of an unusually large number of high-quality entries this year, the Award committee selected two additional papers for "Honorable Mention." Alex Leavitt, a Ph.D. student in the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California received Honorable Mention for his paper, "No Copyright Infringement Intended: Emergent discourses in networked media sharing." Also, Elisabeth Montemurro, a graduate student in the School of Communication at Loyola University received Honorable Mention for her paper, "Interacting with #BindersFullofWomen." The Couch Award was established in 2002 as the centerpiece of an extensive awards program. Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines, and winners are selected by a committee of university professors. The winner will receive a cash award as well as the opportunity to present her paper at an international conference. This year’s award will be presented at the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers in Denver, Colo., October 23-26. The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a non-profit organization established to promote the scholarship of the late Carl J. Couch and his academic associates. The Center provides networking opportunities for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research inspired by Couch's work. - 30 -