The New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance is now accepting nominations for its 2013 Authors’ Awards Program.
The program began in 1994 to encourage and celebrate books about New Jersey. Awards are considered in five non-fiction categories: edited works, popular, scholarly, reference, and, reproduction of primary resources. Nominated works should reflect a new understanding of New Jersey’s history and culture, demonstrate evidence of original research in the application of New Jersey resources, and/or reveal new insights into a topic. The work must have appeared in the previous two calendar years: 2011 or 2012. There is no in-state residency requirement for authors, editors, or compilers.
All works should utilize appropriate primary resources. Although the primary criterion for an award to a scholarly or reference work is the well-written provision of information, a nominated work will also be judged upon its ability to provide full citations for the text, endnotes, footnotes, photographs, illustrations, maps and charts. A complete bibliography or list of references is also expected. Citations should adhere to standard style manuals, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Term Papers, the MLA Style Manual, etc. The authors’ awards will also recognize those who edit or compile primary, largely untapped resources-or a collection of essays or articles-and make them widely available by publication in print or on the web. The published primary resource or edited work should be accompanied by commentary and/or explanatory annotations and will also be held to the same criteria as scholarly and reference works mentioned above.
Nominations will be accepted from January 16, 2013 through April 30, 2013 by the author/compiler or other submitters. The nomination packet must include an explanatory cover letter (stating for which category the work is nominated) and the nominee’s resume. These should be e-mailed to chad.leinaweaver@mainlib.org with “NJSAA Author Award” in the subject line. In addition, five copies of the publication or web address/text proposed for the award must be mailed to the NJ Authors’ Awards Committee, c/o Chad Leinaweaver, Morristown & Morris Township Library, 1 Miller Road, Morristown, NJ 07960.
All materials must be received by April 30, 2013. Committee readings and deliberations take place from May through July. The full committee reviews all nominations. If more than one work is nominated for a specific category, the committee will choose the one that most closely meets the criteria. If no nominations conform to the criteria, the committee may refrain from giving an award that year.Winners will be selected and then reported to the NJSAA membership at its September meeting. The awards ceremony will take place in the fall. Awardees receive a certificate of recognition and the opportunity to discuss their book before a statewide audience.
Additional information on the award (including past winners) and the Academic Alliance may be found at: http://www.njsaa.org. Committee members include: Benjamin Beede, Laura Poll, Harriet Sepinwall, Richard Veit and Chad Leinaweaver, chair.