This is for the 2017 competition – please see the 2018 information here
The Society for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA) announces the 25th annual juried competition for the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing. The late Victor Turner devoted his career to seeking an accessible language that would reopen anthropology to the human subject, and the prize will be given in recognition of innovative books that further this project.
Eligible genres include single and co-authored ethnographic monographs, narratives, historical accounts, biographies, memoirs, dramas, or single-authored collections of essays, short stories, or poems. A $1,000 first-place, a $500 second place and a $250 third-place prize, for books published 2015 through 2017, will be awarded at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington, DC in November 2017.
Books may be entered into the competition by authors, book editors, or colleagues. No formal letter of nomination is needed. Books published in 2015-2016 entered in last year’s competition may be resubmitted this year with the appropriate entry fee.
Submission fee: For authors who are already SHA members, the entry fee is $25/book. For authors who are not SHA members, the entry fee is $75/book. (Publishers: for all books you submit, please check with the author first to discover whether s/he is a current SHA member and please encourage authors to join SHA). The fee may be paid either online here (log into Anthro Gateway to get the SHA member rate of $25), or by check (made out to the American Anthropological Association) with the Turner Submission-Fee-Form sent to:
Kathy Ano, Controller
American Anthropological Association
2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 1301
Arlington, VA 22201-3386
Send one copy of the book to be entered to each of the four judges (a total of 4 copies):
Victor Turner Prize,
c/o Karen Richman
230 McKenna Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Victor Turner Prize,
c/o Cristiana Giordano
321 Young Hall
Department of anthropology
One Shields Ave
University of California
Davis, CA 95616
Victor Turner Prize,
c/o Lisa Stevenson
Department of Anthropology
McGill University
Room 718, Leacock Building
855 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC H3A 2T7
Canada
Victor Turner Prize,
c/o Abigail Adams
Department of Anthropology
1615 Stanley Street
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT 06053
All who enter the contest must include a cover letter with four items of required information:
- book title, publication year, and publisher,
- author’s contact information including mailing address, all telephone numbers and e-mail address;
- author’s biographical sketch (1-2 paragraphs) including highest degree awarded, discipline, and institution;
- current affiliation (university or otherwise).
Biographical information will be used for presenting the winners and publicizing the results of the competition and will not be used for judging the quality of the entries. Entrants may also include an optional short statement about intellectual training/ orientation, and the circumstances surrounding the research/ writing of the book.
Please send the cover letter and accompanying statements and biographical information to the chair of the Victor Turner Prize Committee, Karen Richman, krichman@nd.edu, 574-631-8146.
The deadline for receipt of the required materials is May 5, 2017.
All inquiries should be directed to Karen Richman, krichman@nd.edu.
