AAA Section Awards & Funding
This page of American Anthropological Association (AAA) Section Awards was last updated July 2023. Please click the link to view the AAA section awards.
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The following Awards & Funding Resources were last updated July 2023:
AAA PRIZES/AWARDS
REQUIRES NOMINATION
Franz Boas Award for Exemplary Service to Anthropology: This award is presented annually by the AAA to its members whose careers demonstrate extraordinary achievement that have well served the anthropological profession.
AAAAward for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology: This award given annually was established in 1997 to recognize teachers who have contributed to and encouraged the study of anthropology.
Anthropology in Media Award (AIME): This award given annually was established in 1987 to recognize the successful communication of anthropology to the general public through the media.
Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology: This award given annually was established in 1998 to encourage and reward excellent contributions in the use of anthropological perspectives, theories, models and methods in an anticipatory mode.
SfAA/AAA Margaret Mead Award: This $1,000 award is presented annually to a younger scholar for a particular accomplishment such as a book, film, monograph, or service, which interprets anthropological data and principles in ways that make them meaningful and accessible to a broadly concerned public.
Gender Equity Award: This award recognizes individuals whose service to the discipline brings to light and investigates practices in anthropology that are potentially sexist and discriminatory based on gender presentation.
Alfred Vincent Kidder Award for Eminence in the Field of American Archaeology: Established in 1950, this award is given biennially to an outstanding archaeologist specializing in the archaeology of the Americas.
Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology: This biennial award was established to honor exemplary anthropologists for outstanding recent achievements that have contributed to the development of anthropology as an applied science and have had important impacts on public policy.
REQUIRES APPLICATION
Palestine-Israel Fellowship Fund for Travel (PIFFT): PIFFT is designed to support Palestinian scholars. It may also support those dissenting Israeli scholars whose academic freedom is limited.
AAA Leadership Fellows: Awarded annually and established to provide a unique opportunity for anthropologists early in their careers to learn about AAA and leadership opportunities and to encourage future leadership in the association. A $500 travel subsidy will be provided to attend the Annual Meeting.
AAA Minority Dissertation Fellowship: The AAA invites minority doctoral candidates in anthropology to apply for a dissertation writing fellowship of $10,000 awarded annually.
David M. Schneider Award: Throughout his life, David Schneider's work on kinship, culture theory and American culture was provocative and iconoclastic. This $1,000 award will be given annually in recognition of work that treats one or more of these topics in a fresh and innovative fashion.
OTHER AAA AWARDS
AAA President's Award: Selected by the current president annually and presented at the Annual Meeting.
Distinguished Lecturer: Selected by a panel of past presidents, and established in 1969, a Distinguished Lecturer is named biennially to recognize intellectual contributions in anthropology. The text of the recipient's lecture, presented at the Annual Meeting, is published in American Anthropologist.
Conrad M. Arensberg Award : The AAA is excited to announce the Conrad M. Arensberg Award. This award will honor individuals who have furthered the study of anthropology as a natural science.
The American Association of Biological Anthropologists sponsors the following awards and opportunities for its members.
The highest professional honors bestowed by the AAPA are:
- The Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 1992 to recognize and honor distinguished senior members of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.
- The Gabriel W. Lasker Service Award was established in 2006 to recognize and honor individuals who have demonstrated a history of excellence in service to AABA, its members, and/or the field of biological anthropology.
AABA Awards
- The AABA Communication & Outreach Award is awarded annually to honor individuals for their outstanding public communication and educational outreach efforts in the field of biological anthropology.
AABA Grants
- Cobb Professional Development Grants provide up to $7,500 to support the career development of individuals at the beginning of their professional careers.
- Pollitzer Student Travel Awards are designed to help student members defray the costs of attending the AABA meetings. You do not need to be presenting at the meeting.
Funded Programs
- Committee on Diversity IDEAS (Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences) Program includes a day-long science and mentoring workshop for undergraduate and graduate students at the AABA meetings, networking events throughout the meeting, and a virtual mentoring network throughout the year. IDEAS Student Scholars receive travel funding.
AABA Student Awards
- Student Presentation Awards: The AABA awards seven prizes to outstanding student poster and podium presentations at the annual meeting. The first author of the presentation must be the student.
Awards & Prizes
The Society for Applied Anthropology proudly sponsors prestigious awards including the Malinowski Award, the Peter K. New Award, and the Sol Tax Award; as well as co-sponsoring the Margaret Mead Award with the American Anthropological Association. In addition, the Society offers 12 student travel awards to help offset the costs of attending the Annual Meeting.
Distinguished Awards
Other Awards
- Peter Kong-ming New Award
- Bert Pelto International Travel Award
- Robert A. & Beverly H. Hackenberg Award
- J. Thomas May Memorial Internship
Student Annual Meeting Travel Awards
- John Bodley Travel Award
- Human Rights Defender Travel Award
- Michael M. Cernea Travel Award for Involuntary Resettlement
- Del Jones Memorial Travel Award
- Gil Kushner Memorial Travel Award
- Beatrice Medicine Award
- Edward H. & Rosamond B. Spicer Travel Award
- SfAA Student Endowed Award
- Valene Smith Prize - Student Posters on Tourism
- Student Poster Prize - Poster Presentations
Society for American Archaeology (SAA)
Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA)
- J. C. Harrington Award in Historical Archaeology
- Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology
- Carol V. Ruppé Distinguished Service Award
- John L. Cotter Award
- James Deetz Book Award
- Kathleen Kirk Gilmore Dissertation Award
Awards from the Archaeological Institute of America will only be relevant for Classic Archaeologists, not for the department archaeologists.
- AIA Outstanding Work in Digital Archaeology
- AIA Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement
- AIA Wiseman Book Award (within last 4 years)
AAA
The RAI awards nine prizes, four of which are in the field of ethnographic film.
Research Grants
- Emslie Horniman Anthropological Scholarship Fund
- Radcliffe-Brown and Firth Trust Funds for Social Anthropological Research
- RAI Biological Anthropology Small Grant Scheme
- Awards & Funding Webpage
Fellowships
- Leach/RAI Fellowship in Public Anthropology
- Urgent Anthropology Fellowship
- Awards & Funding Webpage
Prizes
- Marsh Award for Anthropology in the World
- The Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology
- Curl Essay Prize
- Arthur Maurice Hocart Prize and RAI Student Essay Prize
- Film Prizes & Awards
- Wellcome Medal for Anthropology as Applied to Medical Problems
- J.B. Donne Essay Prize on the Anthropology of Art
- Awards & Funding Webpage
Honours
- Honorary Fellows
- Huxley Memorial Medal and Lecture
- Lucy Mair Medal & Marsh Prize for Applied Anthropology
- Mary Douglas Memorial Lecture Fund
- Photography Studies Award
- Public Anthropology Award
- RAI President’s Lifetime Achievement Award
- Rivers Memorial Medal
- The Curl Lectureship
- The Henry Myers Lecturship
- The Patron's Medal
- Awards & Funding Webpage