Another Call for Nominations for ISA-ESS Awards: Engaged Scholar, Distinguished Scholar, Grad Paper, and Sprout Book Award
Fuentes-George, Kemi
Dear GEP-ED members,
I am writing to encourage all ISA-ESS members to submit nominations and self-nominations for our section awards, as well as pull together abstracts and panels for ISA 2027. The fastest approaching deadline is for the Engaged Scholar Award , which falls on Friday, May 23rd. Details for all awards are available on the ESS website. We have four awards. Each award is deliberated upon by a specific committee, so please pay attention to the appropriate address to which the award nominations should be sent:
Engaged Scholar Award (deadline May 23)
This award is given to a person at any stage of their career who has successfully spanned (or is successfully spanning) academia and social/political engagement or activism on issues related in some way to the environment. The criteria are as follows:
- Record of meaningful scholarly/academic work or promise: The recipient should have a record of writing that is used and recognized — or, for early career scholars, hold the promise of use and recognition — within the academic community of environmental studies (this includes interdisciplinary environmental studies, politics and policy, geography, sociology, and other cognate fields).
- Evidence of activist, public, community, and/or policy engagement and impact: The recipient should have evidence of activity that moves beyond academia into participation in activism, policy, or organizing work. For this award, engagement refers to organizing, advocacy, or other transformational action beyond scholarly writing. That is, the award recipient should themselves be actively engaged in activism, organizing, or policy work beyond scholarly publishing.
- Environmental connection: The academic and/or engagement work of the scholar should have some link (direct or indirect) to environmental studies. Usually the academic work of the recipient will inform or be informed by their engagement outside academia.
- Be (or become) a member of the International Studies Association.
Please note: for planning purposes for ISA 2027,they should also include a proposed list of participants who are willing and able to serve on the related Engaged Scholar Roundtable. Self-nominations are encouraged.
Submissions for the Engaged Scholar Award should be sent to the Scholar Awards Committee Chair, Lily Hsueh at lyh...@asu.edu
This award goes to the best graduate student(s) paper that was presented at ISA 2026. The nominations criteria is as follows: only papers authored by graduate students are eligible. No papers with post-docs or co-authored with already graduated PhDs are eligible, unless the paper was submitted by someone who received their PhD after the paper was presented at ISA 2026. The nominee must be a member of ISA, but there is no requirement that they be a member of the Environmental Studies Section specifically. Papers that are co-authored with other graduate students are also eligible. Self-nominations are encouraged.
The winner(s) of this award will be recognized, and each author of the winning paper will receive a $150 prize. In addition, there is an expectation that the winner will, if they desire, be eligible for mentorship support to have that paper considered for publication in Global Environmental Politics journal.
Submissions for the Graduate Student Paper Award should be sent to the ESS Section Chair, Kemi Fuentes-George, at kge...@middlebury.edu (preferred), or at environmentalst...@gmail.com
Harold and Margaret Sprout Award (Deadline August 1)
The award is given annually to the best (new) book in the field – that is, it must be published during the two years prior to the year they are nominated for. Books with a copyright date of the award year are welcome, provided they are released by the previous year’s end. For this year’s nominations, this means only fully released books with publication dates between 2025-2027 are eligible. The nominated book should stand out as one that makes a contribution to theory and interdisciplinarity, shows rigor and coherence in research and writing, and offers accessibility and practical relevance. Ask your publisher to submit your book for consideration, or recommend a publisher submit a fabulous book you recently read. The winner will be recognized, and receive a plaque and $500 award at ISA 2027.
Submissions for the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award should be sent to the Chair of the Sprout Award Committee, Beth DeSombre, at edes...@wellesley.edu
Distinguished Scholar Award (Deadline June 1st)
The Distinguished Scholar Award of the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association recognizes outstanding scholars whose long history of excellent research and teaching has had a substantial impact on fields associated with international relations and environmental issues. The winner of the ESS Distinguished Scholar Award receives a plaque commemorating the award at the section reception. A Distinguished Scholar Roundtable and ESS Reception are also held in his or her honor.
Submissions for the Distinguished Scholar Award should be sent to the Scholar Awards Committee Chair, Lily Hsueh at lyh...@asu.edu
Section Membership and Panel Allocations
Lastly, our section membership impacts our panel allocations - the more members we have, the more panels we are allocated, and the easier it becomes to successfully submit a paper on global environmental governance at ISA, so please make sure to check the Environmental Studies section membership box when you renew your ISA membership!
Please reach out with any questions.
With warm regards,
Professor
Political Science/Environmental Studies/International and Global Studies