Deadline for submission: June 20, 2011

The Kenneth W. Payne Student Prize is presented each year by the Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA) to a graduate or undergraduate student in acknowledgment of outstanding anthropological work on 1) a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered topic, or 2) a critical interrogation of sexualities and genders more broadly defined. The Prize includes a cash award in the amount of $400. Submissions are encouraged from graduate or undergraduate students in any of the four fields of anthropology. To be eligible for consideration, work should have been completed since June 2010 and while the applicant was still enrolled as a student. Research papers as well as visual media (e.g. documentary film) are eligible for submission for this competition. Papers should be no longer than 40 pages, double-spaced, and typed in 11 or 12 point font; published papers or works accepted for publication will not be accepted for review. Visual media should run no longer than 60 minutes; media projects already under contract for commercial distribution will not be accepted for review.

THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF SUBMISSIONS IS JUNE 20, 2011. Submit an electronic copy of the print submission as a Word (*.doc) or RTF (rich text format or *.rtf) attachment to on or before the indicated deadline. Visual media projects should be available for download from an accessible website; send an email to wlm@american.edu that identifies the visual media project and explains its accessibility. In either case, include with your email message a statement indicating your intent to enter the 2011 Kenneth W. Payne Prize competition. Also include your name, address, department and university, telephone number, and email address in the body of the email as well; in addition, indicate the stage of your graduate or undergraduate work at the time the submission was developed. You will receive a confirmation email that your submission has been received within a week of its receipt. Please only send duplicate copies or emails if you have not received a response after two weeks.

Submissions will be judged according to the following criteria: use of relevant L/G/B/T/Q and/or feminist anthropological theory and literature, potential for contribution to and advancement of L/G/B/T/Q studies and our understanding of sexualities worldwide, attention to difference (such as gender, class, race, ethnicity, nation), originality, organization and coherence, and timeliness. The award will be presented to the winner at the AQA Business meeting during the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association Montreal, Ontario, November 16-20, 2011.

Members of the 2011 Payne Prize Committee include: Naisargi N. Dave (University of Toronto), Elisabeth Engebretsen (McGill U), William Leap (American U – 2011 Payne Prize Committee chair), Simon J. Craddock Lee (U Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas), Gregory Mitchell (Northwestern U ), Bill Maurer ( U California –Irvine), Robert Phillips (St. Francis Xavier University), and Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University.)

For more information about the 2011 Payne prize competition, please contact wlm@american.edu .