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SLA Book Prizes 2021: Edward Sapir Book Prize, New Voices Book Prize

 Submission Deadline: May 31, 2021

The Society for Linguistic Anthropology announces two book prize competitions in 2021. Books must have been published between January 2018 and December 31, 2020.


The Edward Sapir Book Prize, established in 2001, is a biennial prize awarded to a book that makes a significant contribution to our understanding of language in society, or the ways in which language mediates historical or contemporary sociocultural processes. 


The New Voices Book Prize, to be given the first time this year, is a biennial prize awarded to a book by a junior scholar (published within twelve years of the PhD) that makes a pathbreaking contribution to the field of linguistic anthropology.


Submissions are now open for the 2021 prizes. The SLA invites books with conceptual and theoretical focus, as well as ethnographic and descriptive works. Single-or multi-author books – but not edited collections– are eligible. Books must be written in English and have been published between January 2018 and December 31, 2020 to be eligible for the 2021 awards. Any given book is eligible in only one biennial round of competition. 

Four copies of books submitted for consideration should be sent to the address below by May 31, 2021. (Publishers will often send them at the author’s request.) Authors or publishers must clearly specify which competition the book should be considered for: The Edward Sapir Book Prize or The New Voices Book Prize. The same book cannot be submitted to both competitions. 

Two committees appointed by the president of the SLA will evaluate the submissions. The winners will be determined by November 2021 and the authors will be notified in advance of the AAA annual meeting and assume responsibility for notifying the publisher. The Edward Sapir Prize and the New Voices Book Prize will be formally awarded at the SLA Business Meeting during the AAA Annual Meeting in 2021.Authors must be members of the SLA at the time of submission.

To submit your book for one of the two prizes, please fill out the submission form at https://forms.gle/ypyxee2Rr479jjgY8. Questions about the prizes can be addressed to slabookprizes@gmail.com. Four copies of the book should be sent to the following address and must arrive by May 31, 2021.

Kira Hall

President, Society for Linguistic Anthropology

Department of Linguistics

Hellems 290, 295 UCB

University of Colorado Boulder

Boulder, CO 80309-0295