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Awards & Prizes

African Studies Association Awards & Prizes for Africanists

The African Studies Association is honored to announce its annual awards heralding some of the most prominent contributions to the field of African Studies. View the 2023 ASA Award Winners Press Release or visit the Award & Prize pages for a complete list of past awardees.

ASA Best Book Prize

The African Studies Association (ASA) invites publishers to nominate titles for the ASA Best Book Prize. The ASA presents the ASA Best Book Prize to the author of the most important scholarly work in African studies published in English during the preceding year. The ASA began awarding the prize in 1965. The winner of the ASA Best Book Prize is announced each year at the ASA Annual Meeting, where he or she receives an honorarium of $500. A list of the finalists for the Prize is published in the Annual Meeting program. Past winners have included some of the most prominent names in African Studies.

View the ASA Best Book Prize page for prize information and all past winners.

ASA Film Prize

The ASA Film Prize is for an outstanding film, whether fiction or documentary, made in the preceding two calendar years by an African filmmaker. The ASA is interested in innovative, probing, work that helps audiences think about social, political, economic, and cultural questions pertinent to the lives of Africans and dynamics on the African continent. The award winner will be chosen by the ASA film prize committee and will be invited to attend the Annual Meeting for a screening of the winning film. The award will cover roundtrip economy class airfare, accommodation at the Annual Meeting hotel for up to four nights, per diem, and conference registration for the winning filmmaker.

View the ASA Film Prize page for prize information and all past winners.

ASA Presidential Fellows Program

The ASA recognizes that it is futile to effectively study Africa and meaningfully engage important issues affecting the African continent, without also meaningfully engaging the scholars and practitioners on the ground who are working against considerable odds to bring about change. These actors generate much of the empirical data that goes into informing reports and studies which are published and circulated in the “global north,” however the vast majority of them are unable to access resources, networks and capacity-building opportunities beyond their borders.

The ASA Presidential Fellows Program is responding to this gap by continuing its tradition of providing opportunities for academics and practitioners with a scholarly interest in Africa to travel to attend the ASA Annual Meeting, visit institutions of higher learning in the United States, engage with academics working on Africa-related issues, take courses and to explore opportunities for collaborative ventures.

View the ASA Presidential Fellows Program page for information and all past fellows.

ASA Outstanding Service Award

The ASA Service award seeks to recognize individuals and/or organizations that have distinguished themselves through their outstanding dedication to the ASA’s mission by: facilitating the production of knowledge about Africa and its diasporas; dissemination knowledge within the academy or to the public; establishing or supporting collaborations between institutions in the global north and in Africa; and/or having strongly contributed to the ASA itself.

View the ASA Outstanding Service Award page for information and all past awardees.

Advocacy Travel Award

Initiated in 2017, the ASA Advocacy Travel Award provides travel subsidies of $1,000 to ASA members to facilitate their attendance at advocacy events in Washington, DC each spring. The ASA believes it is critical for our members to be represented at advocacy events, and for the voices of the field of African Studies to be heard by representatives on the Hill as they prepare to make key decisions about funding for international education, the humanities, and higher-education as a whole.

View the Advocacy Travel Award page for information and all past awardees.

Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize

The Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize of the African Studies Association is awarded annually at the ASA Annual Meeting to the author of the best book on East African Studies published in the previous calendar year. Initiated in 2012, the award was made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of the late Professor Kennell Jackson, the award honors the eminent historian, Professor Bethwell A. Ogot. The winner of the Ogot Book Prize is announced each year at the ASA Annual Meeting, where he or she receives an honorarium of $500. A list of the finalists for the Prize is published in the Annual Meeting program.

View the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize page for information and all past winners.

Children’s Africana Book Award

The Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA) are presented annually to the authors and illustrators of the best children’s and young adult books on Africa published or republished in the United States. Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association (ASA) created CABA in 1991 to encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children’s materials about Africa.

CABA has three major objectives (1) to encourage the publication of children’s and young adult books that contribute to a better understanding of African societies and issues, (2) to recognize literary excellence, and (3) to acknowledge the research achievements of outstanding authors and illustrators.

The awards are presented in three categories: Young Children, Older Readers and New Adult (books marketed to adults but suitable for mature teens).

View the Children’s Africana Book Award page for information and all past awardees.

Conover-Porter Award

The Africana Librarians Council, a coordinate organization of the African Studies Association (U.S.), seeks nominations for the biennial Conover-Porter Award for Excellence in Africana Bibliography or Reference work. The Conover-Porter Award is the most prestigious award for published works of bibliography or reference on Africa. Any Africa-related reference work, bibliography, or bibliographic essay published separately or as part of a larger work during 2022 or 2023 can be nominated for the 2024 award. The award includes a prize of $300 to be presented during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association in Chicago, Illinois.

View the Conover-Porter Award page for information and all past awardees.

Distinguished Africanist Award

Each year, the African Studies Association presents the Distinguished Africanist Award to a member in recognition of lifetime distinguished contributions to the field of African Studies. Considered in deliberations are the candidate’s research productivity, cumulative research impact; impact on teaching; impact on publishing; editorial work; graduate supervision; impact on transformative policies or institutional building in Africa, community outreach; and impact on professional organizations.

View the Distinguished Africanist Award page for award information and a list of all recognized Distinguished Africanists.

Graduate Student Paper Prize

In 2001, the ASA Board of Directors established an annual prize for the best graduate student paper. The prize is awarded at the Annual Meeting for an essay presented at the previous year’s Annual Meeting. Graduate students should submit papers they wish to be considered for the prize, together with a letter of support from their faculty adviser, by March 15 to the ASA. The letter of support provided by the faculty adviser should touch upon both the paper submitted and the Graduate student. The winning essay will be submitted to the African Studies Review for expedited peer review. If the essay is recommended for publication it will appear in the June issue following the Annual Meeting in which the prize is awarded.

View the Graduate Student Paper Prize page for information and all past winners.

Gretchen Walsh Book Donation Award

The African Studies Association offers an annual grant program to assist book donation projects with shipping costs to send book donations to African libraries and schools. The grant is also offered to assist purchase of books or media (print or electronic) on the African continent for African libraries and schools. The Africana Librarians Council, Gretchen Walsh Book Donation Committee reads grant proposals and makes recommendations to ASA. Successful awards are usually small grants in amounts from $200 to $1000. 

View the Gretchen Walsh Book Donation Award page for information and all past awardees.

Hormuud Distinguished Lecture

The Hormuud Lecture was established in 2013 with a generous grant from Hormuud Telecom Somalia Inc. The Hormuud Lecture will focus on the themes of leadership, development, and/or democracy in Africa, and will be delivered by an African scholar in even years at the ASA Annual Meeting.

View the Hormuud Distinguished Lecture page for information and all past lecturers.

Mahmoud Mohamed Taha Student Travel Award

The African Studies Association is pleased to provide the Mahmoud Mohamed Taha Student Travel Award to support research and the exchange of ideas for students of African Studies. Established in 2023, the award was made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Steve Howard. The award is granted in acknowledgement of outstanding student scholarship to support the future of African Studies. The award consists of a travel grant and a plaque presented at the ASA’s Annual Meeting.

Each year, funds will be awarded to competitively selected students who have displayed outstanding scholarship in their area of study. Awards may be used to facilitate research, study abroad, and/or travel to present research at the ASA Annual Meeting. Individuals can expand access to this award through a tax-deductible gift to the award fund.

View the Mahmoud Mohamed Taha Student Travel Award page for information.

Paul Hair Prize

The Paul Hair Prize is presented in odd-numbered years to recognize the best critical edition or translation into English of primary source materials on Africa published during the preceding two years. The award is administered by the Association for the Preservation and Publication of African Historical Sources (APPAHS). It is announced at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting.

View the Paul Hair Prize page for information and all past winners.

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