Apr

2020 Secretary’s Research Prizes: Call for Nominations

Nominations close May 20

Secretary Lonnie Bunch is pleased to announce that nominations are open for the 2020 Secretary’s Research Prizes. The Prizes, organized by the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars (SCOS), recognize excellence in recent research across the Smithsonian and reﬂect the diversity of research at the Institution. All Smithsonian staﬀ members are eligible. Up to ten prizes are awarded annually in the categories listed below. Nominations close May 20, 2020.

The Prizes will be presented to the recipients at the SCOS annual SI-wide event in Fall 2020.

Nomination Process

SI staff may self-nominate or be nominated by another SI staff member. Please send the name, unit and email address of the nominee, and the name and category of the nominated project, to Pamela Hudson Veenbaas at HudsonP@si.edu by May 20. SCOS will then follow up with each nominee to provide further instructions on how to submit materials through SOLAA (the Smithsonian OnLine Academic Appointments system). Submissions will be due by 5 p.m., Friday June 19, 2020.

A selection committee composed of members of the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars will review the nominations and peer reviews and forward recommendations to the Secretary. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in the fall. Each recipient will be awarded $2,000 in research funds, to be placed in 402 accounts.

Prize Categories

All nominations must make an original and useful contribution to knowledge and will be judged on the quality of research, originality, clarity of writing and presentation, and usefulness of the research to the scholarly ﬁeld and society.

Articles and chapters

Published in 2019 in peer-reviewed publications or book-length publications, e.g., edited volumes, proceedings.

Scholarly books

Published in 2018 or 2019; books remain in contention for two years.
Includes single-author exhibition catalogs.

Exhibition catalogues

Published in 2019.
Multipleauthors or editors.
Organized and edited by at least one Smithsonian staﬀ member.

Symposium proceedings

Published in 2019.
Single or multipleauthors or editors.
Organized and edited by at least one Smithsonian staﬀ member.

Exhibitions without a published catalog

Opened in 2019.
Will be judged on quality of research and innovative selection and grouping of objects, explanatory wall texts, and installation strategies.
Not a prize for education or outreach.

Audio or Moving Image Production with Accompanying Scholarly Text or Narration