The Society for Linguistic Anthropology holds an annual student essay competition at both undergraduate and graduate levels. In order to be eligible for one of these awards, the applicant must have been either a graduate or undergraduate student in a degree-granting program when the paper was written; must be the sole author of the paper; and must submit the paper no more than two years after it was written.
The paper must be an original work based on original research conducted by the author. It will be evaluated on the basis of clarity, significance to the field, and substantive contribution. The paper must not exceed 10,000 words for the Gumperz graduate essay prize; 8000 for the thesis or equivalent category of the undergraduate prize; 4000 for the course paper category, including bibliography. At the time of submission for this competition, the paper must not have been published or submitted for publication.
The undergraduate winner will receive a cash award, a certificate of accomplishment, and a small travel grant to the AAA meeting. The graduate award winner will receive a cash award, a small travel grant to present their paper at the annual AAA meeting, and an invitation to submit the paper for consideration for publication with the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology.
The deadline for submission is Jan. 15 2023. Submissions should be in English. Membership in SLA is not required for submission, although it is required for prize winners who wish to present their papers at the AAA conference.
Inquiries about the prizes should be directed to:
Undergraduate prize: slaundergradessayprize@gmail.com
Graduate prize: slagumperzgradessayprize@gmail.com
Please submit using the appropriate google forms as follows:
Undergraduate prize submission form
Graduate prize submission form