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Book Awards – Rules

Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion

The awards are chosen by the Book Awards Jury:

  • John D. Caputo (Constructive-Reflective Studies Jury)
  • Francis X. Clooney (Constructive-Reflective Studies Jury)
  • Paul B. Courtright (Historical Studies Jury)
  • David Frankfurter (Historical Studies Jury)
  • Jennifer A. Herdt (Constructive-Reflective Studies Jury)
  • Steven P. Hopkins (Analytical-Descriptive Studies Jury)
  • Laurie Louise Patton (Analytical-Descriptive Studies Jury)
  • Andrew Rippin (Textual Studies Jury)
  • Glen Stassen (Coordinator of Juries)
  • Ludger Viefhues (Analytical-Descriptive Studies Jury)
  • Judith Weisenfeld (Historical Studies Jury)
  • Vincent L. Wimbush (Textual Studies Jury)

In order to give recognition to new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion, the American Academy of Religion 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. 

Awards for Excellence are given in four categories:

  1. Constructive-Reflective study of religion: works of contemporary ethics, philosophy, interpretation, theology or analogous forms of critical reflection.
     
  2. Historical study of religion:  works that focus on the history of a particular religion or religions in a specific historical period or geographical area.
     
  3. 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.
     
  4. 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.

Nomination and Award Procedures

Constructive-Reflective; Historical; Analytical-Descriptive; Textual 

  1. Nominations may be submitted by any person or institution with the exception of the competition Coordinator and Jurors. An initial preview copy of each volume nominated should be sent directly to the Coordinator of the awards.
     
  2. The evaluation process has two stages:          

    First, the Coordinator screens nominations to determine which books should be considered by the Juries.  The Coordinator contacts the publishers to request shipment to the appropriate Jurors. 

    Second, Juries for each of the four categories evaluate the books that have been screened by the Coordinator.  Members of the Juries confer in June to make their final judgments.
     
  3. Publishers should identify someone in their publishing house who will serve as contact and will insure that the short-listed books have reached their proper destinations. Publishers are solely responsible for confirming that all the relevant Jurors have received copies of shortlisted books; if a Juror fails to receive a copy of a book, it may be seriously disadvantaged in the competition.
     
  4. A brief rationale should be enclosed with each nomination.  In which category should the work be considered?  Why is the work outstanding in its field?  How does it differ from established classics?  If several nominations are made, a rationale for each book should be provided on a separate page, which will be sent to Jurors if the book is chosen for additional review.
     
  5. The competition will not favor works of multiple authorship, reprints, or individual volumes in multi-volume projects.  If such volumes are nominated, detailed justification is required in the covering letter.  No proof copies, bound or unbound, will be considered.
     
  6. The award year begins 2 March and ends 1 March of the following year.  A work may be nominated if its copyright date is within three years of the award year; no work is eligible for resubmission in subsequent competitions.  Deadline for all nominations: 20 March.
     
  7. The AAR Committee on Publications oversees the Awards program.  The Coordinator appoints as Jurors AAR members who have a broad grasp of Religious Studies, who are recognized for their expertise in one or more of its subfields, and whose fairness and critical judgment are widely respected in the profession. Jurors serve for five years, without compensation except for receiving copies of the nominated books.  Any Juror who has been involved in the production of a book nominated for an Award will be recused.  Recommendations of persons who might serve as Jurors may be made directly to the Coordinator.
     
  8. Competition for AAR Awards for Excellence 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 for successful participation.  The current value of each Award is $1000, pro-rated in the case of a tie.
     
  9. Results are declared in July and will be announced in the program book of the AAR Annual Meeting.  Winners will be notified formally by the AAR Executive Director, who will organize, when possible, review sessions during the Annual Meeting, and who will send out awards to winning authors after the Annual Meeting.
     
  10. After the Awards have been announced, each winning publisher will be asked to send not latter than September 15 two cloth copies of the book and two extra dust jackets to the AAR Executive Offices for use in promoting the Award.  In addition, each publisher will be asked to supply a photograph of the author (preferably gif or ipg image) for use in announcing the Award ceremony in the Annual Meeting issue of Religious Studies News and on the AAR website:  www.aarweb.org.

All correspondence regarding the competition and copies of all books nominated should be directed in the first instance to the Coordinator of Juries:

Glen Stassen
Fuller Theological Seminary
Box 235
Pasadena, CA  91182
USA
Phone: 626-304-3733
E-Mail: gstassen@fuller.edu

 

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