Tracing POP’s fizz: three decades of organisational participation in the Goldstein Awards

This study examines organisational participation in the Goldstein Awards for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing between 1993 and 2023. The analysis covers all 1,208 submissions available in the award repository, representing 391 organisations. Participation was predominantly episodic and highly concentrated. Most organisations submitted once, while a small group accounted for a disproportionate share of entries and participated over extended periods. Detailed analysis of 238 projects from the most frequent participants found little evidence of project iteration within the submission record, although authors and problem types recurred across entries. The findings map the distribution, concentration and recurrence of Goldstein Award participation over three decades. They show how the submission of POP activity for external recognition has been sustained by a relatively small group of organisations and provide a basis for further research into the organisational conditions associated with repeated participation.