Wagner Award

NAAIM » Wagner Award

FOR ADVANCES IN ACTIVE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Launched in 2009, the NAAIM Wagner Award is designed to expand awareness of active investment management techniques and the results of active strategies through the solicitation and publication of research on active management. $10,000 is presented annually for the best paper submitted to the competition.

The 2007-2008 bear market, following on the heels of the 2000-2002 decline, led many investors to question the wisdom of buy-and-hold investing, explains Jerry Wagner, a NAAIM founding member and co-chairman of the association’s drive to generate academic research on the viability of active management.

NAAIM members have always believed active is better, he said. Our competition is designed to support this position through sound research and shine the spotlight on those individuals advancing this field of study. The 2010 and 2011 call for papers resulted in an international response, with authors from New Zealand, the Great Britain and Canada, as well as the U.S., submitting research demonstrating advancements in active investment management and it’s potential.

The competition is open to all investment practitioners, academic faculty and doctoral candidates who submit an innovative topic in the area of active investing. This can be either a documented and justified investing approach or an exploration into the validity of active investing. Active investing topics can involve making investment decisions using technical analysis, quantitative analysis, etc. Papers can also address related topics such as position sizing techniques, money management approaches, scaling into and out of trades, exit strategies, etc.

Papers must be of practical significance to practitioners of active investing. An ideal paper provides evidence of the validity of an active investing approach via an example of a trading system that outperforms the market by some well accepted metric such as risk adjusted return, annual return, drawdowns, etc. Examples of supporting evidence sought include backtesting details and parameter sensitivity analysis. Sufficient trading system detail should be provided such that practitioners could replicate the approach. Other criteria used in judging will include the quality of exposition, analytical rigor, and novelty of results. A jury of scholars and investment professionals will review entries and award the prizes. The best paper receives the Wagner Award valued at $10,000; second place receives $3,000 and third receives $1,000. Honorable mentions or additional monetary prizes may be awarded at the judges discretion. In addition, the grand prizewinner will be invited to present his / her paper at the NAAIM annual conference. Free conference attendance, domestic coach airfare and up to three nights lodging will be provided.

NAAIM is accepting contestant submissions for the 2013 Wagner Award Competition. Deadline to Submit Papers is February 28, 2013.

CLICK HERE to download the 2013 Call for Papers, Intent to Submit form and Competition Rules.