The Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association invites submissions for our Student Paper Award. Both undergraduate and graduate students (who have not defended at time of submission) are eligible. The winner will receive a prize of $500, plus a chance to summarize the award-winning paper at the 2025 MES business meeting (either virtual or in-person in New Orleans) and to have a summary published on the MES website. Papers should: be ethnographically grounded or engaging with anthropological literature; focused on peoples and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa and/or its diasporas; not exceed 10,000 words (not including notes and bibliography); and have been completed no earlier than January 1, 2024. Chapters from a thesis are welcome but should be able to stand alone (they can be revised to do so). Papers should not have been published or yet accepted for publication. The paper should include a cover page with the name of the professor and class for which the paper was written (if applicable) and email addresses for both the student and professor.
Student paper award submissions should be emailed to the committee chair, Dr. Timothy Loh (timloh [at] princeton [dot] edu). The subject line must say “MES Student Award.”
The deadline is Friday, September 5, 2025.