General Anthropology Division (GAD) Awards
2025 New Directions Group Awardees Kristóf Szombati and Erdem Evren for “This Authoritarian Life”
GAD New Directions Award
The GAD New Directions Award calls attention to the myriad ways anthropologists are expanding anthropological perspectives in the twenty-first century. It recognizes the accomplishments of individuals and groups/collectives across media and formats as forms of public anthropology. Common to these is the responsible presentation of anthropological information for a larger public beyond the academy, as well as a demonstrated commitment to ethical considerations and methodological rigor.
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The General Anthropology Division (GAD) of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) invites nominations and self-nominations for the 2026 GAD New Directions Award. This award calls attention to the myriad ways anthropologists are expanding anthropological perspectives and making anthropology public in the twenty-first century. The award recognizes work in two categories, Individual and group, both of which carry an honorarium of $1,000.
Nomination Criteria
The award seeks to identify anthropologists and anthropological work, as well as bodies of work, from the broadest range of forms and media including, but not limited to: columns or op-eds in national newspapers or magazines; regular blog posts or digital bodies of work; websites devoted to anthropological themes; critical or theoretical anthropological analysis of social media; articles in popular print magazines; anthropological print and digital magazines; photographic exhibitions, art exhibitions, theatrical or dance performances of an anthropological nature; audio or video series or specials illuminating the human condition; films that examine anthropological topics; public anthropology contributions of all forms. The award also recognizes responsible presentation of anthropological work for publics beyond the academy and demonstrated commitment to ethical considerations and methodological rigor.
Award Categories
Individual award: two collaborators may share the individual nomination. Collaborations of three or more should be nominated in the group category.
Group award: for work by two or more individuals. Group award nominations must be made under an official group name (with a specified contact person)
Nomination Deadline: July 1, 2026
Nominations, including self-nominations, for work published, produced, exhibited, or performed should include an email specifying whether the nomination is individual or group and justifying the nomination with appropriate links, citations, or attachments.
Current GAD board members, members of the boards of GAD interest groups (i.e. CASTAC, FOSAP, TAIG, and HOA), and GAD affiliated projects (e.g. Anthropology Now) are not eligible for nomination. The GAD Awards Committee reserves the right to withhold either or both awards in a given year if no nomination is deemed meritorious.
Send nominations to Elizabeth Reddy, GAD Awards Committee Chair: reddy@mines.edu.
2025 Cross-Field Scholarship Prize Awardees Sarah Lacy and Cara Ocobock
GAD Prize for Exemplary Cross-Field Scholarship
The General Anthropology Division (GAD) has long supported innovative scholarship that transcends the seemingly all too rigid boundaries that divide the various fields of anthropology. The Cross-Field Award is bestowed annually for a peer-reviewed journal article published in the preceding three years that demonstrates exemplary scholarship from any theoretical or methodological perspective, including applied research that transcends two or more fields of anthropology, broadly construed, or is interdisciplinary in nature. The Award carries an honorarium of $1000.
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The General Anthropology Division has long supported innovative scholarship that transcends the seemingly all too rigid boundaries that divide various fields of anthropology.
The Cross-Field Award is awarded annually by GAD for a peer-reviewed journal article published in the preceding three years that demonstrates exemplary scholarship from any theoretical or methodological perspective (including applied research) that transcends two or more fields of anthropology, broadly construed, or is interdisciplinary in nature. The award carries an honorarium of $1000.
Articles published within the past 3 calendar years are eligible.
Nomination Deadline: July 1, 2026
To nominate an article, email Elizabeth Reddy (reddy@mines.edu), GAD Awards Committee Chair. Please include 1) the subject line “GAD Award”; 2) a PDF of the article; 3) a short note supporting the nomination. Self-nominations are welcome; and 4) proof of current GAD membership. Nominators (i.e., the person making the nomination) must be active GAD members at the time of nomination.
2025 CASTAC Diana Forsythe Prize Winner Emily Yates-Doerr
CASTAC Diana Forsythe Prize
The Diana Forsythe Prize was created in 1998 to celebrate the best book or series of published articles in the spirit of Diana Forsythe’s feminist anthropological research on work, science, and/or technology, including biomedicine. The Prize is awarded annually at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association by a committee consisting of one representative from the Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW) and two from the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC). It is supported by the General Anthropology Division (GAD) and Bern Shen.
2024 CASTAC David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize Winner Timothy Y. Loh
CASTAC David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize
Since 2015, the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC) has awarded a graduate student paper prize in recognition of excellent work by rising scholars. In 2016, the prize was renamed in honor of David Hakken’s memory for his pioneering work at the intersection of ethnography and cyberspace. The prize is awarded to a paper that exemplifies innovative research at the intersection of anthropology and science and technology studies, demonstrating theoretical sophistication and an appreciation of the methodological challenges facing the anthropology of science and technology. The winner of the prize is recognized during the AAA meetings and will receive a certificate and $100 cash award, sponsored by the AAA’s General Anthropology Division. They will also receive written feedback from the Prize Committee’s review of their paper.
2025 HOAIG Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize Winner Nala K. Williams
HOAIG Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize
The History of Anthropology Interest Group (HOAIG) invites submissions for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize in the History of Anthropology. This prize is awarded to a paper about the history of anthropology, broadly construed. We encourage students to submit papers they have written based on original, primary source research or that analyze ideas, texts, contexts, or figures (whether marginalized or centralized) in the discipline’s history. Papers may reflect the influence of global anthropologies, Indigenous studies, Black studies, Science and Technology Studies, information science, the history, sociology, or philosophy of science, or other scholarly fields on the history of anthropology. They may challenge conventional histories of the discipline and its traditional geographic and institutional centers.
The winning author will receive a $100 award and recognition by HOAIG at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association.
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Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be in a degree-granting program (including master’s and doctoral programs) or have graduated during the 2025 or 2026 calendar years.
Papers must be the original work of the author. Course papers, dissertation chapters, and journal articles in preparation, under review, or accepted/published during the 2026 calendar year are eligible for consideration.
Papers must be 5,000–12,000 words, including bibliography and references. Images should be embedded within the document itself, and citations and references should be consistent with Chicago style.
Papers should be submitted as a Word document (.doc/docx) along with a 1–2 page CV for the author.
Submission (paper and CV) must be emailed by September 1, 2026, to Andrew Newman (Andrew.Newman@wayne.edu). Please use the same email for questions about the award. HOAIG looks forward to your contributions!