The "official" terms of The Douglas D. Purvis Prize in Economics:
Established by the family, friends and colleagues of Professor D. Purvis in memory of his outstanding contributions to Canadian economics, to Queen's, and to the Department of Economics. Awarded by recommendation of the Department of Economics to the graduating student who has written the best fourth-year research paper in Economics (ECON 418* or ECON 419*). The prize is worth $1500. These funds come from the Doug Purvis Foundation, and are raised through personal donations and from the proceeds of the Annual Doug Purvis Golf Tournament and Dinner. The selection criteria, broadly speaking, are content and presentation, in particular, analytical content and presentational coherence. All ECON 418* and ECON 419* instructors (of which there are eight) are asked to nominate the best paper in their individual seminar, if they think the best is deserving of nomination. A jury of three faculty members in the department then reads and ranks the nominated papers, and arrives at a decision.