Call for Student Papers 2024
Awards will be announced and presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting which will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire. Learn more about the meeting here, and plan on joining us. The annual meeting offers members of ISLPMC the opportunity to learn about a particular region and enjoy the camaraderie that is inherent in a small group.
In memory of folklife scholar Warren E. Roberts, a longtime Society member and former member of the Board of Directors, this annual competitive award recognizes excellence in original graduate student fieldwork, documentary research, and writing in the area of traditional North American material culture.
Born in 1924, Warren E. Roberts received, in 1953, the first Ph.D. in folklore awarded in the United States. At first a literary folklorist, Dr. Roberts’ interests turned to material culture after spending one year in Norway under a Fulbright fellowship and an additional two months under a Guggenheim fellowship. The remainder of his long career was spent researching and writing about traditional material culture, most notably tree stump tombstones and log buildings. Warren E. Roberts died on February 1, 1999. (Photo of Dr. Roberts from Viewpoints on Folklife: Looking at the Overlooked. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1988.)
Award Criteria
Eligibility: Students or recently conferred graduates (no more than two years) in any field who study the myriad elements of material culture are eligible for the Warren E. Roberts Graduate Student Paper Competition.
Submissions and Requirements: All submissions must be in PDF format and sent to the committee chair. The committee will consider granting awards from two categories.
Category One: Article-Length Submissions
Potentially one award will be made each year, up to $750 (plus ISLPMC conference registration, one banquet ticket, and a one-year student membership to the Society).
Article-length submissions should conform to a recognized citation style (Chicago, APA, MLA, etc.). ISLPMC encourages authors to prepare their papers in accordance with the Material Culture submission guidelines, as we encourage awardees to submit their research for publication consideration in the Society’s peer-reviewed journal.
Article-length submissions must include:
- an approximately 20-page manuscript (not including photographs, graphics, works cited, etc.),
- a two-page curriculum vitae, and
- a 150-word biographical sketch.
Each article-length submission should present:
- a clear introduction that describes the research question and/or problem,
- an outline of appropriate literature in which the author situates their project,
- a detailed methodology for data collection and/or fieldwork,
- a descriptive results section,
- a conclusion that discusses the significance of the research, and
- five to seven graphics that supplement the information presented in the paper.
Category Two: Conference-Length Submissions
Potentially as many as three awards will be made each year, up to $250 each (plus ISLPMC conference registration, one banquet ticket, and a one-year student membership to the Society).
Conference-length submissions should conform to a recognized citation style (Chicago, APA, MLA, etc.).
Conference-length submissions must include:
- a well-prepared conference paper presentation of approximately 10 pages in length (not including a works cited list),
- a slideshow of images, maps, graphics, etc., submitted as a PDF document. Each slide should be noted in the text by the slide number in [brackets],
- a two-page curriculum vitae, and
- a 150-word biographical sketch.
Each conference-length submission should present:
- the research question and/or problem,
- the methods for data collection and/or fieldwork,
- a summary of the results,
- a conclusion that discusses the significance or the research or potential avenues for future research, and
- a slideshow that contains brief figure captions for each graphic and citations where appropriate.
Selection Process: The Award Review Committee may choose multiple award winners, depending on the types of submissions (see above). The committee, however, reserves the right to withhold the award if submissions do not meet the award criteria.
Deadline: The deadline for submission is September 1.
Award Presentation: Awards will be announced and presented at the ISLPMC Annual Conference.
Award Review Committee
The Committee is comprised of ISLPMC members, appointed by the Society’s Executive Director.
Douglas Hurt, Chair | hurtd@missouri.edu
Jeffrey Widener | jeffmwidener@gmail.com
Katie Algeo | katie.algeo@wku.edu
Contact
For more information, contact the committee chair: Douglas Hurt | hurtd@missouri.edu