LITERARY AND FILM AWARDS
Procedures
Entries are due by January 7th of the year in which works are to be considered for the award. The Vice President for Awards, elected by the membership of the PCA/ACA oversees the committees that select the winners. Recipients and publishers will be notified before the national conference where the awards are presented. Recipients need not be present to receive the award. The selection committee chairs are chosen by the President of the PCA/ACA Board and approved by the Board of the PCA/ACA.
Submissions
Publishers wishing to submit books for consideration should contact the individuals listed under each award to learn the details for submitting material. If you have any doubt as to which award committee a book should be sent, please contact the chair of the committee before sending it out or contact the Vice President for Awards. If there is any other problem, please contact the Vice President for Awards, Sally Sugarman, P.O. Box 407, Shaftsbury, VT 05262 Phone (802) 447-7179) Fax (8020-447-2611 or by email at sugarman@bennington.edu.
Award Criteria
Book and Film submissions will be judged on:
1) quality of research, scholarship, or cinematic presentation
2) originality, and
3) contribution to popular and American studies scholarship
All awards are given for works published in the previous calendar year, except for Textbook/Primer awards, which are given for works produced within the last three years, and film awards, which are given for works released within the last three years.
Literary and Film Awards:
Ray and Pat Browne Awards : These awards are named after the founders, architects, and builders of the PCA/ACA and the single, most important pioneer in popular culture studies. Ray Browne, who passed away in 2009, was instrumental in building the associations as well as the academic study of popular culture from its early beginning to its current place as a major focus of intellectual study. He and his wife Pat established the Popular Press, which published many of the first works in the field. He also started the Journal of Popular Culture, which now is ranked with the top journals in academia. He also founded the Journal of American Culture, which is a leader in the field. Pat Browne, also through the Popular Press, published many monographs and edited collections, as well as Clue, Popular Music and Society, and other landmark journals within the diverse realms of cultural study. Ray Browne is remembered as a fine author of many books and articles as well as a consummate teacher who mentored many people in popular culture studies.
For details on submitting texts for the Ray and Pat Browne Awards, please contact the individual chairs.
Among the categories for the Ray and Pat Browne Awards are the following:
Best Single work by one or more authors in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. Lynnea Chapman King at LynneaKing@hotmail.com
Best Reference/ Primary Source work in Popular and American Culture in a specific year . Heather Williams at hwilliams@monroecc.edu
Best Edited Collection in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. Garyn G. Roberts is at groberts@message.nmc.edu
John G. Cawelti Award for the Best Textbook/Primer in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. John Cawelti is also a pioneer in the study of Popular and American Culture. His numerous works established the basis for the study of the literature and film for the masses. Among his most prominent works are Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture, The Six-gun Mystique, and The Spy Story.
For details on submitting texts for the Cawelti Award, please contact Dr. Cheri Ross or Brian Wagaman at Ross.Cheri@gmail.com or wagaman@mail.h-net.msu.edu
Emily Toth Award for the Best Single Work by One or More Authors in Women’s Issues in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. Emily Toth is a pioneer in both Women’s Studies and in Popular Culture. She is Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Louisiana State University and is the author of Unveiling Kate Chopin, and Kate Chopin (biography).
For details on submitting texts for the Toth Award, please contact Dr. Joy Sperling at sperling@denison.edu
Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited book in Feminist Studies in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. Koppelman was the first woman to receive the American Culture Association Governing Board Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Culture Studies in1998. A feminist literary historian, she has edited nine books including The Strange History of Suzanne LaFleshe: And Other Stories of Women and Fatness and Between Mothers and Daughters: Stories Across a Generation.
For details on submitting texts for the Koppelman Award, please contact Dr. Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman at jennifer.tebbe@mcphs.edu
Peter C. Rollins Award for the Best Documentary Film in Popular and American Culture within the past three years. Peter Rollins has worked for many years in the nexus between Popular Culture, film, and history. He has been President of the PCA and one of the founders of the Southwest/Texas regional PCA/ACA. Among his many publications are Hollywood's West(s): The American Frontier in Film, Television, and History, The Columbia UP Companion to American History on Film, The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama, Hollywood's White House: The American Presidency in Film and History (awarded the Ray and Pat Browne Award), and Hollywood's Indian: The Native American in Film. His documentaries include: Television's Vietnam: The Real Story (1984) and Will Rogers' 1920s: A Cowboy's Guide to the Times (1976).
For information on submitting texts for the Rollins Award, please contact Dennis Cutchins at dennis_cutchins@byu.edu. For details and the Entry Form, click here.
PCA/ACA Award for Best Electronic Reference Site in Popular and American Culture in a specific year. This award recognizes the growth and importance of new academic formats. The committee will consider those sites developed in the last three years that contribute significantly to the study of Popular and American Culture.
For information on submitting texts for the PCA/ACA Best Electronic Reference Site award, please contact Paul Booth at pbooth@depaul.edu.