Call for Submissions: Disability History Association Publication Awards

The Disability History Association (DHA) promotes the relevance of disability history and facilitates research, publication, conference travel, and public history initiatives related to disability history.

The DHA annually confers two publication awards: the Outstanding Book Award and the Outstanding Article/Book Chapter Award. Information about how to apply for each award can be found below.

Outstanding Book Award

As part of the Association's 2023 Award Series, the DHA Award Committee invites entries for its twelfth annual Outstanding Book Award. The amount of the award is $300. The winning book, as well as the book receiving the honourable mention, will be announced in September 2023.

Eligibility: Committee members welcome monographs and edited collections, provided the book is new, original scholarship and published in English. The award is open to authors writing across all geographic areas and time periods whose book was first published between January 1 and December 31, 2022. Members of the DHA Board of Directors are not eligible to apply.

Submission Procedure: In order to be considered, please send the following to the Book Award Co-Chairs, Dr. Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy (shuntkennedy@gmail.com) and Dr. Kristen Nassif (knassif@udel.edu) by May 1, 2023:

1. a brief cover letter that includes a full bibliographic citation for the book; and
2. an electronic copy of the book in text-based .pdf or .doc file format compatible with screen reading software for the review committee. 

The members of the Award Committee understand that copyright rules apply and will use the electronic copy for the sole purpose of selecting a winner. Books that are not provided in accessible electronic formats for screen reading software in a timely manner will not be considered for the prize.

Applicants will also be required to send six print copies of the book to the members of the Book Award Committee. After you submit your cover letter and electronic copy of the book, the Book Award Co-Chairs will be in contact with you to arrange for the distribution of the hard copies. If you are concerned that you will not be able to provide hard copies of the book, please let the Book Award Co-Chairs know.

Please direct any questions to the Book Award Co-Chairs (Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy, shuntkennedy@gmail.com and Kristen Nassif, knassif@udel.edu).

Outstanding Article or Book Chapter Award

As part of the Association's 2023 Award Series, the DHA is pleased to invite entries for its twelfth annual Outstanding Article or Book Chapter Award competition. The winning article or book chapter, as well the article or book chapter receiving honorable mention, will be announced in September 2023.

Eligibility: The award committee welcomes entries that feature new and original history of disability scholarship. To be considered, submissions must have significant historical content.  

This $200 award is open to authors writing across all geographic areas and time periods. The publication must be in English, with first publication taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2022. We are conscious that some journals publish an electronic advance copy of articles that can appear a considerable time before the print copy is published; we also recognize that some journals are running behind schedule so that, for example, an article published in October 2022 might actually appear in a 2021 edition. We will endeavor to be sympathetic in cases of “behind schedule” publication. If you feel that your proposed submission should be considered but might be at risk of disqualification, please email Sarah Handley-Cousins (sarahhandleycousins@gmail.com) for further information.    

Submission Procedure: Please send one electronic (.pdf or .doc) copy of the article or book chapter to Dr. Sarah Handley-Cousins (sarahhandleycousins@gmail.com) no later than May 15, 2023. In your email, please include the full bibliographic citation of your submission in the Chicago Manual of Style format.

In the interest of modeling best practice in the field of disability history, we require that the electronic file be compatible with screen reading software (see this site, for example, for a guide). We understand that copyright rules apply, and we will only use the electronic copy for the purposes of the DHA Outstanding Publication Award. Manuscripts not provided in accessible electronic formats for screen reading software in a timely manner cannot be considered for the prize.

Members of the DHA Board are not eligible for either of these awards.