The Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR) is pleased to announce its graduate student paper prize competition, which is aimed towards encouraging emerging scholars to write compelling ethnographies on religion. This prize is intended to foster theoretically significant, ethnographically rich work by students at an early stage of their career.
The prize includes a cash award of $250 for the winning paper, which might be recommended for publication in Religion and Society. There will also be a $100 cash award for the runner up. SAR will continue its mentorship program that will pair select graduate student finalists with faculty mentors. Finalists will have an opportunity to meet with their mentor before or at the 2025 AAA meetings to obtain feedback on revising their papers for publication.
At the time of submission, authors must be graduate students in anthropology or a related field in a university anywhere in the world and must be a member of SAR. Finalists will be notified early in the fall semester and paired with a faculty mentor before the 2025 AAA meetings. Winners will be publicly announced at a special reception, where finalists will be invited to present their work with commentary from their mentors. Winners and finalists will also be recognized at the SAR business meeting. Interested graduate students are invited to submit their unpublished, original and polished work to Britt Halvorson (bhalvors@colby.edu) and Cymene Howe (ach1@rice.edu) by August 1, 2025. Papers must be written in English, and should be no more than 30 double-spaced pages, including abstract, bibliography, and notes, and in 12-point font. Please note that papers must not have been submitted for publication. Please write “SAR Paper Prize Submission” in the subject line of the email. Limit of one submission per person.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
