Kathrin Karsay receives the prestigious Kyoon Hur Dissertation Award from the International Communication Association's (ICA) Mass Communication Division. The biannual award acknowledges the best in doctoral research and dissertation writing in mass communication. Evaluation criteria include theoretical and methodological contributions to the field of mass communication and originality.

In 2018, Kathrin already received the Award of Excellence of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research as well as the Sowi-Doc.Award of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna for her dissertation.

In her cumulative dissertation "Objects of Desire. Content and Effects of Sexualizing Media", Kathrin dealt with the phenomenon of sexualization in mass media by means of a multi-method design. The key findings indicate that visual sexualization is a widespread media phenomenon and that in today's society sexualizing media have the potential to negatively affect the mental and physical health of both women and men. In particular, the results demonstrate that the use of sexualizing media leads to an overestimation of one's own appearance in relation to one's own personality, in short self-objectification, and implies far-reaching consequences for society at large. 

Congratulations, Kathrin!