The Medieval Academy Blog

We are thrilled to announce the establishment of a new book prize this year, for a meritorious monograph in Byzantine Studies, broadly defined. For example, the prize might be offered to studies that substantially engage with the Eastern Roman Empire and/or its successor states from the fourth through the fifteenth centuries (in any subfield); or studies of peoples and states with close connections to Byzantium, such as Coptic Egypt, the Syriac world, Armenia, and Georgia. Books must be monographs written in English and authors must be members of the MAA. The Prize of $1,000 will be awarded at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America. For the first five years, the Prize will be a pilot program with the possibility of extension, funded by a consortium of five Byzantine Studies organizations: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University; the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture; the Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University; the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies at Princeton University; and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University. The MAA is extremely grateful to these organizations for supporting the Prize. For more information or to submit a monograph for consideration, see the Call for Submissions below or click here.

Through its Publication Prize program, the Medieval Academy of America aims to accomplish three goals:

1) Honoring and promoting outstanding scholarship produced by medievalists;

2) Supporting authors in any medieval field and at all career levels by raising the visibility of their scholarship;

3) Acknowledging the work of publishers of all kinds.

Award-winning publications scholarship should function as a model of current best practices in Medieval Studies and as a model for the future of the field. Although the various Prizes have specific eligibility criteria, general procedures and requirements are as follows:

1) In contrast to past years, authors of submitted books need not be members of the Medieval Academy of America.

2) All prize winners will receive a complimentary one-year MAA membership in addition to the prize.

3) All publishers are eligible, whether non-profit or for-profit.

4) Nominations may be submitted by authors or by publishers, but all submissions must use the central Publications Prize Portal. Please note that incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

5) Ordinarily a nomination should go forward in a single category for a given year. Authors and publishers should contact the Executive Director LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org for queries about exceptions to this policy.

6) Monographs that have previously been awarded an MAA Publication Prize are not eligible for other MAA Publication Prizes except for the Haskins Medal.

7) Submissions may be by hardcopy and/or eBook.

8) All submissions and supporting documents must be received by 15 October.

9) Prizes will be announced in February and awarded during the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America.

10) Authors need not be residents of North America, but all submissions must be written in English.

Monograph Prizes:

John Nicholas Brown Prize: Best First Monograph

Byzantine Studies Prize: Best Monograph in Byzantine Studies

Karen Gould Prize: Best Medieval Art History Monograph

Haskins Medal: Best Monograph in Medieval Studies

Jerome Singerman Prize: Best Second Monograph

Article Prizes:

Article Prize in Critical Race Studies: Best Article in the field of Medieval Critical Race Studies

Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize: Best Early-Career Article

Other Formats:

Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Prize: Best DH Project

Monica Green Prize: For an exceptional project (for example, a publication, exhibit, performance, or DH project) that shows the importance of studying the medieval past to understand the present.

The Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Organizations (CARA) invites nominations to fill an upcoming vacancy on its Executive Committee. With a special focus upon teaching at all levels, CARA strives to assist institutions and individual medievalists in meeting the challenges that face medieval studies in the classroom, the library, and other institutional settings locally and nationally.

Members of the Executive Committee serve four-year terms; in addition to working with the CARA Chair on programming, outreach, and curricular initiatives, each member serves on two of CARA’s four subcommittees responsible for the CARA Teaching Award, the CARA Robert Kendrick Service Prize, the CARA Regional Conference Grant, and the MAA-CARA Graduate Student Summer Scholarships. Members of the CARA Executive Committee also help organize the CARA plenary at the annual Medieval Academy meeting and various CARA zoom sessions throughout the academic year.

Service on the CARA Executive Committee is open to all members in good standing of the Medieval Academy of America, who may nominate themselves or be nominated by another individual. We are particularly interested in nominees who are familiar with medieval studies programs and curricula in Texas and the southwest United States. Nominations should include the following:

1. Name of nominee;
2. Nominee’s institutional or professional affiliation (including that of independent scholar);
3. A brief (c. 250-word) statement indicating the nominee’s qualifications for Executive Committee service, including their contributions to the areas of teaching, center or program administration, and/or professional collaboration and development in the field of Medieval Studies.

In accordance with CARA’s Policies and Procedures, nominations will be accepted until 1 November 2025 and reviewed thereafter by the CARA Executive Committee, which will forward its recommended candidate for approval by the Medieval Academy’s Council. The term of service for new members will begin at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting in March 2026. Please send nominations, as well as any questions or requests for further information, to the CARA Chair, Lauren Mancia (laurenmancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu).

The Fellows’ Executive Committee and the leadership of CARA sponsor the Medieval Academy Fellows Speaker Series, in which certain volunteers among the Fellows have made themselves available to give subsidized and/or free talks and lectures at various venues around North America, either “in person” or on Zoom. Twenty-six Fellows have volunteered thus far and have proposed a variety of potential talks for both general and specialized audiences. It is an exciting list, and a fitting way to support the Humanities in these challenging times. This series is aimed primarily at venues where scholarly talks from medievalists are not an everyday occurrence.

The volunteer speakers and potential talks are posted here on the MAA website in a spreadsheet where there is additional information about funding options, travel geography, medium (in person or virtual or both), and targeted audience for the specific talk, as well as email contacts for the speakers. Note that no talks require honoraria, so all zoom talks are free; the only cost to the host institution is the cost of travel and lodging for in-person visits. We invite medievalists interested in hosting a talk at their institution to examine the list of topics and speakers and directly email the speaker whose talk is of interest to make arrangements for a visit (virtual or in-person). The host institution and the speaker can work out the details about funding for travel/travel details/etc.–note that the MAA and CARA do not have any additional funding other than what the fellow is generously providing. Institutions should feel free to contact Lauren Mancia (laurenmancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu) with any additional questions.