Call for Awards – SSAWW 2025

The Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) was founded in 2000 in order to promote the study of American women writers through research, teaching, and publication. In support of that mission, the three awards were established in 2011 to honor the work and legacies of the Society’s founding members and to further SSAWW’s goals to broaden knowledge among academics as well as the general public about American women writers, past and present. As we begin preparations for the 2025 SSAWW conference in Philadelphia, this is a call for submissions for our 2025 SSAWW Awards.  All nominations must be submitted by February 1st, 2025.

Lifetime Achievement Award: 

The Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded every conference year at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference to recognize a scholar’s career achievement in the study of American women writers. The award recognizes the individual’s commitment to the field, as demonstrated in her/his/their undergraduate and/or graduate teaching, mentoring of undergraduate and/or graduate students, scholarship, and service. The award is named in honor of Karen Dandurand, who passed away in 2011. She was one of the founding editors of Legacy and was an active member of SSAWW, serving as the Vice President of Development from 2004 to 2009. Nominators should submit a CV and brief (250 to 500 word) letter of support in one PDF file to the Lifetime Achievement Award  Chair: Dr. Jennifer Putzi at jlputz@wm.edu, by February 1st, 2025. She will distribute all nominations to the committee members.

Book Award: 

The SSAWW Book Award is given at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference to recognize excellence in the field. The award will recognize the monograph’s significant contributions to scholarship related to American women writers. Eligible books must have been published between December 2020 and November 2024. Edited collections are not eligible for this award. Nominators should contact by February 1st, 2025 the Book Award Chair,  Elizabeth Young <eyoung@mtholyoke.edu>. She will provide information about distributing submissions to the Book Award committee members. It is up to the author/editors to contact their presses to have review copies sent to the committee. 

Edition Award: 

The SSAWW Edition Award is given at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference in order to recognize excellence in the recovery of American women writers. The award will recognize the collection’s significant contributions to scholarship related to American women writers. Eligible editions must have been published between December 2020 and November 2024. Nominators should contact by February 1st, 2025 the Edition Award Chair, Laura Laffrado <Laura.Laffrado@wwu.edu>. She will provide information about distributing submissions to the Edition Award committee members. It is up to the author/editors to contact their presses to have review copies sent to the committee. 

Recovery Hub Digital Edition Prize Description

The Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ is pleased to announce the inaugural SSAWW Recovery Hub Digital Edition Prize. The SSAWW Recovery Hub Digital Edition Prize will be given at the SSAWW conference and recognizes excellence in the field of digital recovery of American women writers. The award recognizes a digital edition launched publicly online during the preceding three years before the submission deadline. This year, eligible digital editions must have been launched between January 2022 and January 2025. Nominators should submit this award nomination form by February 1st, 2025. If you have any questions, contact the Recovery Hub for American Women Writers at recoveryhub@siue.edu.

Deadline

11:59pm on Feb. 1st, 2025

Submission Form: https://recoveryhub.siue.edu/ssaww-digital-edition-prize-nomination-form/ 

Judging Criteria/Rubric for the Digital Edition Prize

Contribution to Recovery Scholarship

• Discuss the relevance and relative importance of the subject matter at the heart of this digital edition. How does it enter into current conversations in the field? What other projects about this topic currently exist? How does this diverge from, expand on, or otherwise contribute to those pre-existing projects?
• What kind of recovery methodologies does the project use and value in this edition? How are the materials collected, curated, displayed, etc.? 
• What are the implied or explicit arguments this digital edition is making about its primary subject matter? How effectively communicated are these arguments? How complex and well-considered? 

Contribution to the Field of Digital Humanities

• How does the digital edition think critically about their use of technical tools, design, digital platforms, etc.?
• To what extent does the digital edition look to expand its reach to audiences often underserved by the digital humanities (women, people of color, disabled audiences, etc.)
• How does the digital edition utilize its tools, platforms, and other digital features to advance its project beyond what is possible in a print edition? To what extent does it expand or complicate what could be done with this subject matter in other formats?

Technical Considerations

• How is the digital edition hosted and supported? How sustainable are these platforms for this particular project? 
• How accessible is the digital edition? What steps does the digital edition take to consider and include marginalized audiences in its technical design?
• How easily navigable is the site? How clear and effective is the visual design? What roadblocks are there to searching, reading, or otherwise using this digital edition (including broken links, deadends, dysfunctional features, etc.)?
• Do the goals of the project and its timeline align with practical technical development? How realistic are these goals, timelines, and expectations?