The AAR is please to announce that the Board of Directors recently approved a motion put forward by the Graduate Student Committee to create an award entitled the Graduate Student Excellence in Research in Religious Studies and Theology Award.

The purpose of this award is to recognize scholarly publications by graduate students that make significant contributions to the study of religion. The intention too is to increase the visibility of student research in the wider academy.

Graduate students who have had an article published by the Journal of the American Academy of Religion will be eligible to receive the award. A review committee will choose the winning article through an anonymous review process. The award carries a cash prize of $1,000. The winner will be honored at the AAR Awards Ceremony at the Annual Meeting. The award will be given biennially and the review committee may choose to defer the award if a critical mass of papers is not reached.

To be eligible to receive this award, a person must be a graduate student the year the article is submitted. Only those who have never received the award are eligible.