Awards
From R P R Portal
- Robert J. McNamara Student Award
-- Sponsor: Association for the Sociology of Religion
-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor awards a cash prize of $500 to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion.
-- Deadline: 06/01/2009
-- Contact: Professor William Mirola
-- E-mail: mirola@marian.edu
-- Web Site: http://www.sociologyofreligion.com/
-- Program URL: http://www.sociologyofreligion.com/MCNAMARA2004.html
-- OBJECTIVES: The sponsor awards a cash prize to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion.
-- ELIGIBILITY: Authors must be currently enrolled students who have not defended the Ph.D. when the paper is submitted. ASR membership is required for consideration.
- Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics:
-- Sponsor: Catt (Carrie Chapman) Center for Women and Politics
-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor provides an award designed to encourage and reward scholars embarking on significant research in the area of women and politics. The committee selects up to two projects to receive a prize of $1,000 each and two projects for honorable mention recognition of $500 each.
-- Deadline(s): 11/02/2009
-- Program URL: http://www.las.iastate.edu/CattCenter/cattprize.shtml
-- OBJECTIVES: Research projects submitted for prize consideration can address any topic related to women and politics.
-- ELIGIBILITY: Scholars at any level, including graduate students and junior faculty members, can apply.
-- FUNDING: The prize includes a $1,000 cash award for each project selected. Honorable mention prizes of $500 per project are sometimes given. In addition to the cash prize, recipients may be invited to Iowa State University to present an overview of their research.
- Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion
-- Sponsor: American Academy of Religion
-- SYNOPSIS: In order to give recognition to new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion, the sponsor offers Awards for Excellence. The Awards honor works of distinctive originality, intelligence, creativity and importance, books that affect decisively how religion is examined, understood, and interpreted.
-- Deadline: 03/20/2009
-- Contact: Glen Stassen, gstassen@fuller.edu
-- Program URL: http://www.aarweb.org/Programs/Awards/Book_Awards/rules-excellence.asp
-- OBJECTIVES: Awards for Excellence are given in four categories:
Constructive-Reflective study of religion: works of contemporary ethics, philosophy, interpretation, theology or analogous forms of critical reflection.
Historical study of religion: works that focus on the history of a particular religion or religions in a specific historical period or geographical area.
Analytical-Descriptive study of religion: works of analysis or theory that focus on religion as an object of enquiry or on its typical components, such as myth, ritual, or tradition.
Textual study of religion: works that focus on the analysis, interpretation, or translation of a particular text or group of texts in the study of religion.
-- ELIGIBILITY: The competition is open to all books of distinction in the academic study of religion. An author's membership in the AAR is not a necessary condition. Nominations may be submitted by any person or institution with the exception of the competition Coordinator and Jurors.
-- FUNDING: The current value of the award is $1,000.
- Templeton Prize
-- Sponsor: Templeton (John) Foundation
-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor provides a prize to honor a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. The prize awards a sum in the amount of £1,000,000 sterling ($2,000,000 USD).
-- Deadline: 07/01/2009
-- Contact: The Templeton Prize Office, Canyon Institute for Advanced Studies, 3217 East Shea Blvd, Suite 622, Phoenix, AZ 85028
-- E-mail: info@templetonprize.org
-- Program URL: http://www.templetonprize.org/nomination.html
-- OBJECTIVES: The Templeton Prize honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. Established in 1972 by Sir John Templeton, the Prize aims, in his words, to identify "entrepreneurs of the spirit" - outstanding individuals who have devoted their talents to those aspects of human experience that, even in an age of astonishing scientific advance, remain beyond the reach of scientific explanation. The Prize celebrates no particular faith tradition or notion of God, but rather the quest for progress in humanity's efforts to comprehend the many and diverse manifestations of the Divine.
The qualities sought in a Templeton Prize nominee include creativity and innovation, rigor and impact. The judges seek, above all, a substantial record of achievement that highlights or exemplifies one of the various ways in which human beings express their yearning for spiritual progress. Consideration is given to a nominee's work as a whole, not just during the year prior to selection. Nominations are especially encouraged in the fields of: research in the human sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences; scholarship in philosophy, theology, and other areas of the humanities; practice, including religious leadership, the creation of organizations that edify and inspire, and the development of new schools of thought; and commentary and Journalism on matters of religion, virtue, character formation, and the flourishing of the human spirit. These fields do not exhaust the areas in which achievement might qualify for the Templeton Prize, nor is it necessary for a nominee's work to be confined to just one field.
-- ELIGIBILITY: Men and women of any creed, profession, or national origin may be nominated for the Templeton Prize. All nominations must be submitted in English. Self-nominations are not considered. The public at large is encouraged to participate in the nomination process. The Foundation also directly solicits nominations from academic leaders, theologians, scholars, and scientists.
-- FUNDING: The Prize is a monetary award in the amount of £1,000,000 sterling ($2,000,000 USD).
- Award for Best In-Depth Reporting on Religion:
-- Sponsor: American Academy of Religion
-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor provides awards to honor the best in-depth reporting on topics related to religion. There are three contests: writing at large news outlets, writing at small news outlets and opinion writing. For each contest, the first-place winner receives $1,000.
-- Deadline(s): 02/28/2010
-- Program URL: http://www.aarweb.org/Programs/Awards/Journalism_Awards/rules.asp
-- OBJECTIVES: Articles may be on any topic related to religion, including but not limited to religion and art, bioethics or ethics, the courts, health, international or social issues, politics, popular culture, schools, or science. Writing for general audiences and on a diversity of topics is preferred. Writing should be the result of having benefited from the research or perspectives of scholars (though they do not need be mentioned or quoted).
-- ELIGIBILITY: For News Articles in Print Media with Circulations over 100,000 or in Web Media, and News Articles in Print Media with Circulations under 100,000: five separate articles, published in North America during the previous calendar year, must be submitted for each contest entered. The applicant should be the sole author, except that up to two of the articles may have multiple bylines or credits, provided that the applicant identifies the articles and state that he/she did most of the writing. For Columns, Editorials, and Other Opinion Writing: three separate articles, published in North America during the previous calendar year, must be submitted for each contest entered. The applicant should be the sole author, except that up to two of the articles may have multiple bylines or credits, provided that the applicant identifies the articles and state that he/she did most of the writing.
-- An entry fee of $25 per contest is required with submissions.
-- FUNDING: For each of the three contests, the first-place winner receives $1,000.
- Excellence in Teaching Award:
-- Sponsor: American Academy of Religion
-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor provides an award that recognizes the importance of teaching and honors outstanding teaching in the field.
-- Deadline(s): 01/11/2010
-- Program URL: http://www.aarweb.org/Programs/Awards/Teaching_Awards/default.asp#Nominations
-- OBJECTIVES: Persons nominated for this award will be judged on the following criteria: outstanding performance as a classroom teacher, as demonstrated by student evaluations, peer observations, teaching awards, and other forms of peer recognition; development of effective teaching methods, courses, and/or teaching materials, that generate student learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and/or community-based research; commitment to professional identity as a teacher of religion and raising student interest in the field; and at least three years' experience in teaching in higher education.
-- ELIGIBILITY: Nominees must have been teaching no fewer than three years.
-- FUNDING: The Award will be presented before the Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. The award recipient also will be featured at a Special Topics Forum.
