The Society for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA) announces the 24th annual juried competition for the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing. The late Victor Turner devoted his career to seeking a language that would reopen anthropology to the human subject, and the prize will be given in recognition of an innovative book that furthers this project.
Eligible genres include ethnographic monographs, narratives, historical accounts, biographies, memoirs, dramas, or single-authored collections of essays, short stories, or poems. A $500 first-place, a $300 second place and $200 third-place prizes, for books published between April 2012 and April 2014, will be awarded at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington DC in December 2014.
Books may be entered into the competition by authors, book editors, or colleagues. No formal letter of nomination is needed. Books published in 2012-2013 and 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 with the submission fee form sent to:
Suzanne Mattingly, 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 three the judges (a total of 3 copies):
- Victor Turner Prize, c/o Ruth Elizabeth Toulson, Department of Anthropology, Dept. 3431, 1000 University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071- 2000
- Victor Turner Prize, c/o Julie Livingston, 214 W. 85th St. Apt 5W, New York, NY 10024
- Victor Turner Prize, c/o Daniel Reichman, Department of Anthropology, 440 Lattimore Hall, Rochester, NY, 14627
All who enter the contest must include a cover letter with four items of required information:
- book title, publication year, and publisher,
- the author’s contact information including mailing address, all telephone numbers and e-mail address;
- the author’s biographical sketch (1-2 paragraphs) including highest degree awarded, in which discipline, and from which institution;
- current affiliation (university or otherwise).
Entrants may also include an optional short statement about intellectual training/ orientation, and the circumstances surrounding the research/ writing of the book. 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.
Please send the cover letter and accompanying statements and biographical information to the chair of the Victor Turner Prize Committee, c/o Ruth Elizabeth Toulson, Department of Anthropology – Dept. 3431, 1000 University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071- 2000 (rtoulson@uwyo.edu)
The absolute deadline for receipt of the required materials is May 1, 2014.
All inquiries should be directed to Ruth Toulson at rtoulson@uwyo.edu
