Each year, the International Association of Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry (IAANI) invites nominations for several awards to be presented at the annual International Symposium on Narrative and Autoethnography (ISAN):
- Outstanding Book | Edited Book
- Outstanding Book Chapter and/or Journal Article
- Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project
- Outstanding Thesis (Masters) and Dissertation (Doctoral)
- Early Career Award
- Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Award
The Outstanding Book Chapter and/or Journal Article, Early Career Award, and Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Awards are presented every odd year (2023, 2025, 2027); the Outstanding Book, Edited Book, Audio and/or Visual Project, Thesis (Masters), and Dissertation (Doctorate) awards are presented every even year (2024, 2026, 2028).
Nominations for the 2024 awards are now open.
- Outstanding Book | Edited Book (published 2021-2023)
Nominations for this award must be for books published in the three calendar years (2021-2023) prior to the year of the symposium which the award will be given. Publication date will be determined by the date on the final published work. Nominators must submit a PDF of the nominated work and a nomination letter that includes contact information and a short description of this work’s contribution to autoethnography and personal narrative. Self-nominations are accepted for this award.
- Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project (created/presented/published 2021-2023)
This award will be given to an outstanding audio and/or visual project (e.g., podcast, staged performance, art installation, documentary) that demonstrates excellent use of autoethnography and personal narrative. Nominations for this award must be for projects created in the three calendar years (2021-2023) prior to the year of the Symposium at which the award will be given. Nominators must submit a PDF of/link to the nominated work and a nomination letter that includes with contact information and that describes this work’s contribution to autoethnography and personal narrative, as well as describe how/when/where the project was exhibited/performed/screened. Self-nominations are accepted for this award.
- Outstanding Thesis (Masters) and Dissertation (Doctoral) (defended 2021-2023; the final defense date will determine the eligibility of the award)
These awards will recognize exceptional autoethnographic and narrative research at the masters and at the doctoral levels. Nominations for these awards must be for theses and dissertations defended in the three calendar years (2021-2023) prior to the year of the Symposium at which the award will be given. The final defense date will determine the eligibility of the award. Nominators must submit a PDF of the nominated work and a nomination letter summarizing the project’s significant contributions to autoethnography and personal narrative. The letter must also note the final defense date of the work. Self-nominations are NOT accepted for the Outstanding Thesis and Outstanding Dissertation awards.
A review committee will determine award recipients. Award recipients will be recognized at the 2024 ISAN. Award recipients are expected to attend the Symposium.
Nominations for the 2024 awards were due by September 15, 2023. We are no longer accepting nominations.
The Outstanding Book, Edited Book, Book Chapter and/or Journal Article, Audio and/or Visual Project, Thesis (Masters), and Dissertation (Doctorate) awards are given to projects published, created, or defended in the three calendar years prior to the year of the conference at which each award was given. Publication date is determined by the date on the final published work.
Submissions are reviewed based on originality; creativity; accessible and well-crafted evocative and analytical writing; engagement with lived experience, such as emotion, subjectivity, and the body; contribution to the field of autoethnography and personal narrative; and practical significance and contribution to social justice.
Outstanding Book
2022: M. Soledad Caballero, I Was a Bell
Outstanding Edited Book
2022: Andrew F. Herrmann, The Routledge International Handbook of Organizational Autoethnography
Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project
2022: Josh Hamzehee, “Burnt City: A Dystopian Bilingual One-Persian Show!”
2022: Honorable Mention: Shanita Mitchell, “A Seat at the Table: A Dance Performance”
Outstanding Dissertation
2022: Lindsay Wagner, The Aletheia Project: An Autoethnographic Study of Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Facilities Management
Outstanding Thesis
2022: Alicia Marie Utecht, Big/Little Sister
Outstanding Journal Article
2021: David F. Purnell, “I Should Have Been Wearing the Pink Triangle”
2023: Michael Tristano Jr., “Performing Queer of Color Joy Through Collective Crisis: Resistance, Social Science, and How I Learned to Dance Again”
2023: Honorable Mention: Joe Cleary, “A Suburban Funeral”
Outstanding Book Chapter
2023: Elizabeth Weinberg, “Fire” (from Unsettling: Surviving Extinction Together)
Early Career Award
The Early Career Award is designed to recognize scholars who have a demonstrated record of using autoethnography and narrative in exemplary and promising ways. Eligible nominees include anyone who has completed a terminal degree (e.g., MFA, PhD, EdD) during the five years prior to the year the award is given.
2021: Loretta LeMaster
2023: Julianna Kirschner
Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Award
The Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Award recognizes a work (book, article, book chapter, staged performance, art installation) demonstrating excellence in autoethnography and narrative and that has stood the test of time. The work could be considered a “classic” text that has served as a stimulus for novel approaches to and understandings of autoethnography and narrative. For this award, nominated works must be at least five years old at the time of the nomination.
2021: Ronald J. Pelias, A Methodology of the Heart
2023: Mark Freeman, Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward
Journal of Autoethnography Article of the Year Award
This annual award goes to the article published in the Journal of Autoethnography in a given year that best demonstrates originality and creativity, the use of well-crafted evocative and/or analytical writing, shows the author’s engaged lived experience, and makes a significant contribution to the field of autoethnography.
2020: Devika Chawla, “The Essay”
2021: Anonymous Author, PhD, “Highlighting Numbers: Students Stalking Faculty and the Lasting Impacts of a Flawed System”
2022: Ritika Popli, “Writing with Grief: Coping with My Father’s Death“