Awards + Prizes

Grant Information

Every year, CASCA offers small travel grants to doctoral students who are presenting at our annual conference. Every year, the award committee struggles with the gap between the many strong applications we receive and our limited resources. Students tell us that even a small amount of money makes a huge difference to their ability to attend, but we would like to be able to do more. With that in mind, CASCA has added a new category to our charitable donations options: Student Travel Reimbursement.  As with all CASCA donations, a receipt will be issued for tax purposes. Please consider supporting the next generation of anthropologists and strengthening CASCA by donating through the following link.

Value

Awards of up to $600 may be granted to an applicant. Approval of and the amount of the award will be calculated at the discretion of CASCA’s Executive on the basis of travel distance, financial need, stage of program, scholarly merit and number of applicants.

Funds will be disbursed at the conference, upon submission of original receipts, including proof of travel/ticket stub, a copy of student I.D. Please come prepared to provide copies.

Eligibility

• Available to Masters and PhD students who are presenting at annual conference (priority to students who have completed their fieldwork).
• Applicants MUST BE affiliated with a Canadian institution and be CASCA members in good standing at the time of conference attendance, as well as an active participant in the meeting, i.e. delivering a paper, poster or other original contribution.
• Applicants can only collect grants one time at each level of study (one MA max and one PhD max).

Submission

Applicants must submit the following for consideration:

• The abstract of your paper or panel submission
• CV (2-page maximum)
• A completed application form

Applications must be received by March 15, 2024. Incomplete and/or late applications will not be considered. Do not assume your message has been received unless it has been acknowledged.

Notice to successful applicants should be available by late March 2020, giving sufficient time for applicants to make travel reservations and arrangements.

Email inquiries should include the subject line “CASCA Student Travel Grant”.

Award Information

This award was set up in 2009 as part of the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the CASCA Women’s Network. Its goal is to encourage research into gender and gender issues from a feminist perspective by emerging scholars in social/cultural anthropology in Canada.

Value

The award is $250

Eligibility

Are you a graduate student in Canada whose work takes a feminist perspective and engages with gender issues? Then please consider submitting your CASCA paper to be considered for the Women’s Network Graduate Student Prize for this year’s conference.

• Candidates must be registered full-time in a graduate program in Anthropology at a Canadian university, or have graduated from such a program less than one year ago.
• Candidates must be presenting at CASCA (papers stemming from a presented poster can also be submitted)

Criteria

The adjudicating committee look for papers that:

• Explicitly engage with gender, and clearly demonstrate that engagement in their treatment of the topic
• Take a feminist perspective, with reference to relevant feminist literature
• Are not merely descriptive and show evidence of original critical analysis

Submission

• Please watch for the Call for Submissions which will outline the current submission process and deadline for receipt of your paper. For consideration, your paper:
• Must be received by the deadline
• Must not exceed 10 pages in length
• Can be submitted in either English or French
• Must include an abstract
• Must indicate the university at which the candidate is registered and their current year in the program

The deadline for submissions is March 23.

The prize-winning paper will be published (following peer review) in the Canadian anthropology journal, Anthropologica.

The CASCA Women’s Network invites nominations for the CASCA Women’s Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Feminist Anthropology in Canada.

Award Information

This achievement award was established as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations of the Canadian Anthropology Society’s Women’s Network. Its goal is to recognize and pay tribute to feminist scholars who, through their work in the field of Social/Cultural Anthropology in Canada, have made a significant contribution to the field of feminist anthropology as scholars, mentors and activists. Recognition through nomination is made every 2-3 years.

The first CASCA Women’s Network Lifetime Achievement Award for Feminist Anthropology in Canada was awarded in 2011 to Dr. Elvi Whittaker. Dr. Whittaker is Professor Emerita in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. She was recognized as one of the founders and first coordinators of the CASCA Women’s Network, as well as a past-president of CASCA, and past-president of the Canadian Social Science Federation.

Nominations

Deadline

The deadline for nominations for consideration is September 1.

Award Information

The Richard F. Salisbury student award is given in memory of Dr. Richard Frank Salisbury, a founding member of the McGill University Department of Anthropology as well as the McGill Centre for Developing Areas Studies. Dr. Salisbury was the author of From Stone to Steel (1962) and A Homeland for the Cree (1986). His leadership on the James Bay Project helped the James Bay Cree and the Government of Quebec to work out the historic treaty that has become a model for reconciling Indigenous autonomy with economic development. Dr. Salisbury passed away in 1989.

The Richard F. Salisbury Student Award is given each year to a PhD candidate, enrolled at a Canadian university, for the purposes of defraying expenses incurred while carrying out dissertation fieldwork. The winner of each award is also invited to present their preliminary findings to the annual meeting of the Canadian Anthropology Society/Société canadienne d’anthropologie.

Value

The award is $2000.

Eligibility

Applications can be made by any student member of CASCA undertaking doctoral level research in the field of anthropology at a Canadian university. Preference will be given to those who have completed their comprehensive examinations, have approved thesis proposals, and are within one year of beginning fieldwork. CASCA recognizes that some eligible candidates may not be studying in anthropology programs, however all candidates must be members of CASCA when making their applications. The intent of the award is to assist with fieldwork expenses.

The award recipient will:

• Submit a report, with a summary which will be published in Culture
•  Present a report at the CASCA annual conference in the year following the reception of the prize (travel costs will be covered in the same amount as those offered as student travel awards that same year)

Criteria

An outstanding academic record and an excellent research proposal with innovative scholarly import and social relevance.

Submission

Each application should include

1. A Salisbury Award application form, signed, with items 2-4 attached
2. A curriculum vitae, including education history, Ph.D. courses, presentations, awards, honours, teaching, grants, and publications (up to three pages).
3. A research proposal, including: theoretical framework, research problem/question, methodology, objectives, and social and scholarly significance (two pages).
4. A budget for research, including planned use of Award funds, requests to other sources and funds received to date (one half to one page).
5. Two letters of reference about the applicant’s qualifications and the research proposal, one of which must be from the applicant’s thesis supervisor (these are to be sent directly by the referees).

Deadline

All application materials must be submitted electronically by February 15, 2024

Two letters of reference should be submitted to Daniel Salas González – CASCA Secretary

Award Information

In 1992 the Society for Applied Anthropology in Canada established the Weaver-Tremblay Award, naming it after Marc-Adélard Tremblay and Sally Weaver, two of Canada’s most respected anthropologists. Both Weaver and Tremblay were instrumental in the founding of CASCA, an initiative prompted by a range of factors, but a central principle was their belief that anthropologists and their professional associations need to examine and address matters of social and political concern. The award was subsequently moved to CASCA’s jurisdiction and has been presented to a series of distinguished colleagues during the past 30 years.

Marc-Adélard Tremblay was one of Canada’s most distinguished teachers and researchers in the social sciences. Founder of the anthropology department at Laval University, a champion of team research employing innovative interdisciplinary research methodologies, his work has focused on understanding the complexities of community response to rapidly changing social conditions. Some of the particular communities with whom he worked include Nova Scotia Acadians, the Navajo in the American Southwest, and the francophone communities of Quebec’s Lower North Shore and in Alberta. The work for which he is most widely known in English Canada is the Hawthorn-Tremblay Report. From 1964 and 1968, he was associate director of this federal survey of Canadian Native People.

Sally Weaver’s second book, The Making of Canadian Indian Policy, published in 1981, has been called one of the most important books in English-language Social Sciences of the 20th century. Her critique was instrumental in dismantling the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs as it existed in the 1970s, and for the launching of a system of land claims for Indigenous people in Canada. While a far from perfect system, the latter is a significant improvement of the blatantly discriminatory policies of earlier eras. She taught at the University of Waterloo starting in 1966, chairing the department for several years.

Both Weaver and Tremblay were instrumental in the founding of CASCA, an initiative prompted by a range of factors. But a central principle was their belief that professional associations need, where appropriate, to take public positions on matters of social and political concern, particularly in cases which directly impact those who have been the traditional subject of anthropological study.

The award was moved to CASCA’s jurisdiction, and the association has had the honour over the years to present it to such distinguished colleagues as Michael Ames (1994), Paul Charest (1995), Peter Stephenson (1997), Michael Robinson (1998), Michael Asch (2001), Pierre Beaucage (2002), Donat Savoie (2003), Elvi Whittaker (2004), Herman Konrad (2005, posthumously), Richard Preston (2006), Penny Van Esterik (2007), Harvey Feit (2008), James Waldram (2009), Gilles Bibeau (2010), Pamela Downe (2011), Adrian Tanner (2013), Regna Darnell (2014), Marie France Labrecque (2015), Janice Graham (2016), Margaret Critchlow (2017), Dara Culhane (2018), Noel Dyck (2019), Bruce Granville Miller (2020), Francine Saillant (2021) and Jasmin Habib (2022).

Eligibility

The award is for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada. The Weaver Tremblay Award is awarded annually to an anthropologist who has made extraordinary contributions to Canadian Applied Anthropology. 

Nominations should include a CV, a cover letter from the nominator explaining why the candidate is worthy of the award, and any supporting material the nominator feels is important, including (but not limited to) publications and letters from other academics and/or community organizations. Such letters serve to strengthen the file. We also ask that you attach a separate biography of the nominee, one that could be used on the website if the nominee is presented with the Weaver-Tremblay Award.

The winner is invited to deliver a plenary address at the CASCA annual conference, which is normally published in Anthropologica.

The association covers travel costs at CASCA executive rates. The winner also receives a medal. Normally, the winner chairs the adjudication committee for the competition the following year. 

Submission

Nominations for the next recipient of the Weaver-Tremblay Award should be received by February 15, 2024 and addressed to the CASCA President, Monica Heller.

If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Salas González – CASCA Secretary.

Award Information

This award, launched in 2017, aims to help Canadian university and college anthropology departments recognize their top graduating Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD students and to promote awareness of CASCA.

Each spring, departments may select one top student at each level of study who has graduated or will be graduating in that academic year to receive an award from CASCA. This is not a national competition; CASCA will send awards for one student at each level to each department. Students specializing in any subfield are eligible, as long as their degree is primarily in anthropology. The selection process is up to the department, but we hope that the strength of the student’s anthropological research is a priority in the decision.

Eligibility

CASCA accepts nominations for the awards from 1 February to 15 May each year. To be eligible, students must graduate between 15 June of the previous year and 15 June of the current year. There is no cost for the institution and the students need not be members of CASCA.

Announcement of Award

A certificate and letter of congratulations, signed by our President, will be emailed to the department for each award winner by about 31 May. The department should then give or mail these to the winning graduates. Award winners will be acknowledged publicly on the CASCA website as soon as possible thereafter.

To name the award winners, a faculty member should fill in this form.

Contact membership@anthropologica.ca if you have any questions about the awards.

Background

At the Annual General Meetings of 2013, 2014, and 2015, the Canadian Anthropology Society recognized a select number of Founding Fellows whose contributions have defined anthropology in Canada. The Founding Fellows come from all regions and both official languages and were selected and offered this honour by the Executive.

Beginning in 2016, the Canadian Anthropology Society has inducted a select number of Fellows of the Canadian Anthropology Society at its annual general meeting. Fellows are longstanding members of the Canadian Anthropology Society who have made notable contributions to CASCA and to anthropology in Canada through any combination of research, practice, teaching/mentoring or service (including community service). A call for nominations is made to the membership each fall and Fellows are selected and offered this honour by the Executive the following year.

Eligibility

The purpose of these Fellows is to recognize the contributions of longstanding CASCA members to the association and to anthropology in Canada. Fellows will be presented to the Association during the AGM each year. Specific nomination criteria include:

• The nominee has been a member of CASCA for at least 15 years;
• The nominee is not a Founding Fellow;
• The nominee is retired or close to retirement and;
• The nominee has a significant contribution to CASCA and anthropology in Canada.
• In addition, nominees may be an Emeritus Professor.

Submission

Please forward nominations, including a rationale and a short bio of the nominee, to the Ad Hoc committee chaired by Past-President by February 1st, 2024.

Award Info

The CASCA Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE) have been established to recognize the contributions to excellence in teaching and student learning in anthropology.  Two awards will be made every year at our annual conference. The first award is for instructors who teach on a “per course” basis, or who hold a limited-term faculty position that extends over no more than two years. The second award is for those holding permanent faculty positions (such as term-limited appointments longer than two years, tenure-track appointments, or tenured positions).

Eligibility

1. CATE – Course Instructors

Nominees must teach at a Canadian university or college, hold a PhD, be members of CASCA, and have taught as the primary instructor in at least four anthropology-focused courses over the past five years. This award is for those who teach on a “per course” basis, or who hold a limited-term faculty position that extends over no more than two years.

2. CATE – Permanent Faculty

Nominees must teach at a Canadian university or college, hold a PhD, be members of CASCA, and have taught as the primary instructor in at least four anthropology-focused courses over the past five years. This award is for those who hold a permanent faculty position (such as term-limited appointments longer than two years, tenure-track appointments, or tenured positions).

Submission

Each administrative unit (eg. Department) may submit only one nomination for each award per year. Units should determine a process by which nominees are selected and advanced to CASCA’s CATE Committee.

Award recipients may not receive the award more than once.

Deadline February 15, 2024.

Please send nominations to membership@anthropologica.ca

Please download the CATE application form here.

Prize Information

The Canadian Anthropology Society is seeking submissions for the Labrecque-Lee Book Prize. Established in 2018, the Labrecque-Lee Book Prize recognizes outstanding anthropological publications in either French or English. CASCA is now accepting submissions for the award. This award honours two outstanding Canadian anthropologists, Marie-France Labrecque and Richard Lee. In addition to being awarded by CASCA at the annual meeting, recipients of the Labrecque-Lee Book Prize will also receive a $500 prize.

Eligibility

Nominations for the Labrecque-Lee Book Prize must be submitted by someone other than the author(s) and meet the following criteria:

1. Single or co-authored monograph works (co-edited volumes/collections are ineligible).
2. Works published in the year preceding the prize (i.e. for the 2021 prize, works published in 2020, etc).
3. Works grounded in any anthropological subject and/or methodology is welcome (i.e. socio-cultural, archaeological, bio-cultural, ethnohistorical, and linguistic works).
4. Author(s) of the work must hold a CASCA membership and demonstrate a Canadian affiliation in at least one of the following ways:
5. The publication nominated is an ethnography focused in a Canadian setting.
6. The author or one of the authors is based at a Canadian academic and/or research institution.
7. The author or one of the authors holds a degree from a Canadian university.
8. The publication is connected to a grant provided by a Canadian institution.
9. A book may only be nominated once.

Submission

Nominations must include the following information:

1. Verification of one of the authors’ CASCA membership.
2. The author(s’) CV curriculum vitae.
3. A letter of support from the nominator.
4. A one paragraph description of the book publisher including the year of establishment and information about the series and other anthropological titles published.

Deadline for Submissions

Nominations must be submitted electronically to membership@anthropologica.ca no later than May 15th. Once the nomination package has been received, arrangements will be made for copies of the books to be sent by the publisher to those on the Prize Selection Committee. The publisher will have two weeks to arrange shipment.

Please note: The publisher of the winning book is permitted to mention this prize in any publicity relating to its publication. An interdisciplinary panel composed of CASCA Members will select the winner. The selection panel reserves the right not to award the prize in any given year. The winner will normally be announced by CASCA in September of the same year. There will be no appeals of the decision of the panel.