John B. Thurston Award

The Board of Directors of The Institute established the John B. Thurston Award in March 1952 as a tribute to the memory of its first international president and an eminent authority in the field of internal auditing. The award is given annually to the author of the article published in Internal Auditor magazine voted to be the most outstanding paper in the field of internal auditing.

Eligibility

All articles that have appeared in Internal Auditor from January 1 to December 31 of the current year are eligible unless the author is the chairman or immediate past chairman of The Institute or a paid member of The Institute staff. Members of the Editorial Advisory Board whose articles are being considered for this award may not participate in evaluations of their own or others' papers.

Criteria for Selection

The Board of Directors decided that there should be no set requirements as to subject, presentation, or a number of words. Selection should be based on a general consideration of the originality and value of the article as a contribution to the advancement of the philosophy, the practice, and the literature of our profession.

With regard to the subject matter, articles most likely to qualify will generally fall into the following categories:

Articles dealing with the extension of practical applications
Articles that propound or develop auditing concepts
Articles dealing with the strengthening of audit administration

Second to subject matter is the criterion of readability. The message conveyed by the article should have an impact and hold the reader's attention. This calls for good organization of the material, clarity of expression, and effective style.

2021 Award Recipients

Winner:
“An RPA Road Test” (April 2020)
Rick Wright, Jr., CIA; Missouri, U.S.

Outstanding Contributors:
“A Study in Risk Tolerance” (February 2020)
Louis Seabrooke, CIA, CPA, CA; Ontario, Canada
Amy Felix, CIA, CPA, CA, PRINCE2; Ontario, Canada

“The Value of the Business Ecosystem” (April 2020)
Brian Kostek, CRCM; Minnesota, U.S.

“Magical Words” (August 2020)
Norman Marks, CRMA, CPA; California, U.S.

“Recruiting the Next Generation of Internal Auditors” (October 2020)
Seth Peterson, CIA, CRMA, QIAL; South Dakota, U.S.
Alex Rusate, CIA, CRMA, CCSA, CPA; New York, U.S.

“The Seducer’s Game” (October 2020)
Sanya Morang; California, U.S.
Steve Morang, CIA, CRMA, CFE, CCEP; California, U.S.

2020 Award Recipients

Winner:
Christopher Kelly, DPROF, FCA, MIIA, and James Hao, CPA — “Beneath the Data” (February 2019)

Outstanding Contributors:
Allan Sammy, CIA, CPA, CGA — “Bias in the Machine” (June 2019)
Ying-Choong Lee, CISA — “Stronger Assurance Through Machine Learning” (August 2019)
Matej Drašček, CIA, CRMA — “6 Myths of Business Ethics” (October 2019)
Dennis Applegate, CIA, CPA, CMA, CFE, and Mike Koenig — “Framing AI Audits” (December 2019)
Norman Marks, CRMA, CPA — “Internal Auditors Should Be Brave” (December 2019)

2019 Award Recipients

Winner:
Nancy Haig, CIA, CRMA, CCSA, CFSA — “Your Personal Brand” (February 2018)

Outstanding Contributors:
Norman Marks, CRMA, CPA — “Information Distillation” (April 2018)
Ara Chalabyan, CIA, CRMA, CRISC, ACCA — “Elevating Team Performance” (April 2018)
Lorraine Lee, PHD, CPA; Kirk Fiedler, PHD, CPA; and Richard Mautz — “Internal Audit and the Blockchain” (August 2018)
Richard J. Anderson, CPA — “Ten Tips to Manage Your Career” (October 2018)
Murray D. Wolfe, CRMA, CPA, CA — “Breaking Free of Mental Traps” (December 2018)

2018 Award Recipients

Winner:
Jim Roth, PhD, CIA, CCSA, CRMA — “How to Audit Culture” (June 2017)

Outstanding Contributors:
Sridhar Ramamoorti, PhD, CIA, CPA, CRMA; Alan N. Siegfried, CIA, CPA, CRMA, CISA; and P. Alan White — “Auditing Organizational Governance” (February 2017)
Hans Buehler, CIA, and Arnaud Ruiz, CISA — “Signature Audits” (April 2017)
Jason Pett, CPA; Mark Kristall, CPA, CISA; and Deborah Mack, CIA, CISA — “Opportunity From Disruption” (June 2017)
Gordon Braun, CIA, CISA, CGEIT; Andrew Struthers-Kennedy, CISA; and Gregg Wishna, CISA — “Building a Data Analytics Program” (August 2017)
Jimmy Parker, CIA, CPA — “The Root of the Matter” (August 2017)

2017 Award Recipients

Winner:
Yuang-Sung Al Chen, PhD, CPA, CITP, CGMA, Loïc Decaux, PHD, and D. Scott Showalter, CPA, CGMA — "Mapping Assurance" (December 2016)

Outstanding Contributors:
Aditya Misra, CFE, CPA, and Vincent Walden, CFE, CPA, CITP — “Proactive Fraud Analysis” (April 2016)
Christopher Kelly, DProf, FCA, and Frans DeKlepper — “On the Hunt for Payroll Fraud” (April 2016)
Jared Soileau, CIA, CPA, CISA, and Laura Soileau, CIA, CRMA, CPA — “Analytics and the Small Audit Department” (June 2016)
Paul J. Morrison, CPA — “An Anti-corruption Checkup” (June 2016) Nancy Haig, CIA, CCSA, CRMA, CFSA — “Breaking Through” (December 2016)

2016 Award Recipients

Winner:
Michael Levy, CIA, CRMA, CISA, CISSP, Anthony Leusner, CIA, CRMA, and Khalid Wasti, CIA — "Putting the Squeeze on Social Media" (February 2015)

Outstanding Contributors:
Tim Leech, CIA, CCSA, CRMA — "Reinventing Internal Audit" (April 2015)
Patricia Miller, CIA, CRMA, QIAL, and Larry Rittenberg, CIA — "Internal Audit in the Crosshairs" (June 2015)
Michael Levy, CIA, CRMA, CISA, CISSP — "Protecting Customer Data" (August 2015)
Norman Marks, CRMA — "The Effective CAE" (October 2015)
Laura Soileau, CIA, CRMA, and Jared Soileau, CIA, CRMA, CCSA — "Auditing for Conflicts of Interest" (December 2015)

2015 Award Recipients

Winner:
Manny Rosenfeld, CIA, CRMA — "No Crash Landings" (February 2014)

Outstanding Contributors:
Patrick Warren — "Closing the Gaps in Third-party Risk Management" (February 2014)
Stephen Minder, Linda Leinicke, and Max Rexroad — "What Do You Measure?" (April 2014)
Norman Marks — "The Internal Audit Evangelist" (August 2014)
Raj Chaudhary and Michael Lucas — "Privacy Risk Management" (October 2014)
Mike Jacka — "Gearing Up for Innovation" (December 2014)

2014 Award Recipient

Norman Marks
"Assurance That Matters" was published in the October 2013 issue of Internal Auditor.

2013 Award Recipient

Andrew L. Cheskis
"What's Your Brand?" was published in the October 2012 issue of Internal Auditor.

2012 Award Recipients

J. Michael Jacka
Peter R. Scott
"The Whole World's Talking” was published in the June 2011 issue of Internal Auditor.

2011 Award Recipients

Julia Karcher
Robert Barker
Andrew Cobb
"Document Retention in an E-world” was published in the April 2010 issue of Internal Auditor.

2010 Award Recipients

Bruce Adamec
Linda Leinicke
Joyce Ostrosky
“6 Cultural Pillars of Successful Audit Departments” was published in the April 2009 issue of Internal Auditor.

2009 Award Recipient

Jim Pelletier
“Adding Risk Back Into the Audit Process” was published in the August 2008 issue of Internal Auditor.

2008 Award Recipient

Scott White
“The Internal Auditor as Consultant" was published in the February 2007 issue of Internal Auditor.

2007 Award Recipients

Bryce Peterson
William Heninger
Craig Lindstrom
Marshall Romney
“How Secure Is Your Wireless Network?” was published in the February 2006 issue of Internal Auditor.

2006 Award Recipients

Bruce A. Adamec
Linda M. Leinicke
Joyce A. Ostrosky
W. Max Rexroad
"Getting a Leg Up" was published in the June 2005 issue of Internal Auditor.

2005 Award Recipient

Johnny Frank
"Fraud Risk Assessment" was published in the April 2004 issue of Internal Auditor.

John Thurston