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
- Outstanding Journal Article
- Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project
- Outstanding Thesis (Masters) and Dissertation (Doctoral)
- Early Career Award
- Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Award
- H. L. “Bud” Goodall, Jr. and Nick Trujillo “It’s a Way of Life” Award”
- Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award
The Outstanding Book Chapter and Journal Article, Early Career Award, and Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Awards are presented every odd year (2027, 2029, 2031); the Outstanding Book, Edited Book, Audio and/or Visual Project, Thesis (Masters), and Dissertation (Doctorate) awards are presented every even year (2026, 2028, 2030). The H. L. “Bud” Goodall, Jr. and Nick Trujillo “It’s a Way of Life” Award and the Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award are given every year.
The Outstanding Book, Edited Book, Book Chapter and/or Journal Article, Audio and/or Visual Project, Thesis (Masters), and Dissertation (Doctorate) awards recognize projects published, created, or defended in the two calendar years prior to the call for nominations. Publication date is determined by the date on the final published/defended/exhibited/performed work.
Review committees will determine award recipients. Recipients will receive complementary registration to the annual International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative, a digital award certificate, and a 1-year subscription to the Journal of Autoethnography.
The following awards will be presented at the 2026 International Symposium of Autoethnography and Narrative (6-8 March 2026):
- Outstanding Book
- Outstanding Edited Book
- Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project
- Outstanding Thesis (Masters)
- Outstanding Dissertation (Doctoral)
- Goodall and Trujillo “It’s a Way of Life” Award in Narrative Ethnography (Article | Chapter | Performance)
- Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award (Article | Chapter)
We will open nominations for the following awards on 1 June 2026:
- Outstanding Book Chapter
- Outstanding Journal Article
- Early Career Award
- Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis Resonance Award
- Goodall and Trujillo “It’s a Way of Life” Award in Narrative Ethnography (Book)
- Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award (Article | Chapter)
Outstanding Book
2026: M. F. Alvarez, Unraveling: An Autoethnography of Suicide and Renewal
2024: Linita Eapen Mathew, Life: To Be Given Back Again to Whence It Came: A Pilgrimage through Prolonged Grief, Confronting Grief Illiteracy, and Healing Loss using the Art of Storytelling
2024: Alexandre Baril, Undoing Suicidism: A Trans, Queer, Crip Approach to Rethinking (Assisted) Suicide (Honorable Mention)
2022: M. Soledad Caballero, I Was a Bell
Outstanding Edited Book
2026: Jackie Goode, Karen Lumsden, and Jan Bradford, Crafting Autoethnography: Processes and Practices of Making Self and Culture
2026: Tomeka M. Robinson, Sabrina Singh, and Christina Mary Joseph, A Culturally Centered and Intersectional Approach to Reproductive Justice (Honorable Mention)
2024: Deleasa Randall-Griffiths and Patricia English-Schneider, Narrative and Grief: Autoethnographies of Loss
2024: Sohini Chatterjee and Po-Han Lee, Plural Feminisms: Navigating Resistance as Everyday Praxis (Honorable Mention)
2022: Andrew F. Herrmann, The Routledge International Handbook of Organizational Autoethnography
Outstanding Audio and/or Visual Project
2026: Christopher Cayari, Pictures at a Gender[*] Exhibition: Musical Theater Vignettes about Gender [Non-Conformity]
2026: Hande Çayır, Filming Madness: Institutions, Individuals, and Ethical Considerations (Honorable Mention)
2024: Cynthia Hiu Ying Lam, 愛，媽媽 (Love, Mum)
2022: Josh Hamzehee, “Burnt City: A Dystopian Bilingual One-Persian Show!”
2022: Shanita Mitchell, “A Seat at the Table: A Dance Performance” (Honorable Mention)
Outstanding Dissertation
2026: Amanda K. Gross, Living (Trauma) Containers for Healing Justice, Transformation, and Collective Liberation: An Autoethnographic Expressive Arts-Based Investigation with White Settler Family Members
2024: Christal (Chris) Omni, Black Joy in Green Spaces: A Nature-Inspired, Endarkened, Visual Narrative Inquiry about Black Women and Joy
2024: Ana Isabel Terminel Iberri, Beyond Critical Communication Pedagogy Pláticas with Latinx Youth
2022: Lindsay Wagner, The Aletheia Project: An Autoethnographic Study of Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Facilities Management
Outstanding Thesis
2026: Natasha Gallagher Marron, Stories in the Border Country: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Narrative Identity and Re-storying
2024: Abigail Mier, Anxious Negotiations of Being Indigenous in Diaspora: (Re)encountering the Colonial through Critical Autoethnography
2022: Alicia Marie Utecht, Big/Little Sister
Outstanding Journal Article
2025: Sleiman El Hajj, “Narrating Sexual Blackmail in Lebanon: A Present-Day Pathography“
2023: Michael Tristano Jr., “Performing Queer of Color Joy Through Collective Crisis: Resistance, Social Science, and How I Learned to Dance Again”
2023: Joe Cleary, “A Suburban Funeral” (Honorable Mention)
2021: David F. Purnell, “I Should Have Been Wearing the Pink Triangle”
Outstanding Book Chapter
2025: Khyati Tripathi, “Death, Priests, Pollution, and Me: An Autoethnographic Account“
2023: Elizabeth Weinberg, “Fire” (from Unsettling: Surviving Extinction Together)
Early Career Award
The Early Career Award recognizes 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.
2025: Mike Alvarez
2023: Julianna Kirschner
2021: Loretta LeMaster
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.
2025: Laurel Richardson, Fields at Play: Constructing an Academic Life (1997)
2023: Mark Freeman, Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward (2010)
2021: Ronald J. Pelias, A Methodology of the Heart (2004)
Journal of Autoethnography Article of the Year Award
This annual award recognizes an 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.
2026: Carolyn Ellis, The Eulogy as Spiritual Autoethnography
2026: Elizabeth M. Lozano, Nothing Happened: An Autoethnography of Nonevents and Screaming Resistance
2024: Christopher N. Poulos, Why I Write Autoethnography
2023: Elizabeth Mackinlay, Ordinary Moments: Feminist Notes From the Academy
2022: Ritika Popli, “Writing with Grief: Coping with My Father’s Death“
2021: Anonymous Author, PhD, “Highlighting Numbers: Students Stalking Faculty and the Lasting Impacts of a Flawed System”
2020: Devika Chawla, “The Essay”