Select Box and Ajax Question

programming web dev
1 
    <?php
    $pikes->query("SELECT award_id, award_name FROM award_desc");
    if ($pikes->get_num_rows() >= 1) {
        echo "<select name=\"award_id\" onChange=sndReqAward(this.selected)>";
        while ($row = $pikes->fetch_row()) {
            echo "<option value\"".$row['award_id']."\">".$row['award_name']."</option>";
        }
        echo "</select>";
    }
    ?>

My backend ajax script and front works fine other than one thing.

sndReqAward(this.selected) is broke. Does anybody know the command to return the value that is selected from the option menu?

I know for a textbox - this.value works. This is not the case with select statements. Any help would be great.