Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section

The Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section sponsors an annual lecture by a distinguished specialist, forums, and panels at the AFS annual meeting; publishes an annual newsletter for members; sponsors the Don Yoder Prize for the Best Student Paper in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife; and has an e-mail electronic conference. Membership is $10.

2009 Don Yoder Prize--Call for Submissions

The Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section of the American Folklore Society invites submissions for TWO student prizes:The Don Yoder Prize for the Best Graduate Student Paper in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife, with an honorarium of $500; and a second prize, offered for the first time in 2009, the Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Undergraduate Paper Prize; with an honorarium of $250.

Submissions: All research papers by undergraduate or graduate students, in English, written after January 1, 2007, published or unpublished at the time of submission, and written on a folk belief or religious folklife topic, broadly construed, are eligible.

Interested applicants must submit the following materials for consideration: 1. A cover letter specifying the date when the paper was written; the conference, colloquium, or course where the paper has been or will be submitted; or the publication in which it will be published. 2. Entries must be fully footnoted for a reading audience, using Journal of American Folklore citation style. 3. Electronic submissions are preferred, sent to the address below; however, if submitted by mail, please send three copies of the paper, which should be a minimum of 8 pages, and a maximum of 40 pages, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. PLEASE NOTE: To ensure blind judgment of papers, please remove the author's name from the paper. 4. A short (100-word) biographical statement about the author, including the author’s current graduate or undergraduate status, and about the research. 5. A letter or e-mail from a faculty sponsor endorsing submission of the paper.

Deadline: The online and postmark deadline for submissions has been extended to October 1, 2009. Any materials received after this deadline will not be considered.

Electronic submissions of papers are preferred; papers and supporting documents should be sent as Microsoft Word document attachments or pdf. Printed copies may be sent to the address below; please do not submit faxed items.

Confirmation of receipt for electronic submissions will be sent. One submission per person, please. Previous winners of the Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Student Prizes are not eligible; except for winners of the undergraduate student prize, who may later submit a new research paper for the Don Yoder Prize. The papers will be evaluated by three judges who are members of both the American Folklore Society and the Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section. The winner will be announced at the Section's business meeting at the Society's annual meeting.

Application materials should be sent to: Maggie Kruesi, 533 9th Street NE, Washington DC 20002. If possible, please submit the paper and supporting documents as e-mail attachments to mkru@loc.gov.

The 2007 recipient of the Don Yoder Prize is Robert Dobler of the University of Oregon for his paper "Ghosts in the Machine: Mourning the MySpace Dead."

There were no prize winners in 2008.

Section conveners are:

Maggie Kruesi
American Folklife Center
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4610
E-mail: mkru@loc.gov

Leonard Norman Primiano
Department of Religious Studies
Cabrini College
610 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
E-mail: lprimiano@cabrini.edu

To join this American Folklore Society interest-group section, please visit the AFS membership page of this web site, where you will find both a secure online and a printable, mailable membership form. You need not be a member of the American Folklore Society to join its sections.