Public Programs Section
Prizes and Awards
Each year, the Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society joins with the AFS Executive Board to award the Benjamin A. Botkin Prize of $200 to an individual for significant achievement in public folklore. This prize is given in recognition of the work of Benjamin A. Botkin (1901-1975). Eminent New Deal-era folklorist, national folklore editor of the Federal Writers’ Project in 1938-1939, advocate for the public responsibilities of folklorists, author and complier of many publications on American folklore for general audiences, and head of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress from 1942 to 1945, Botkin has had a major impact on the field of public folklore and on the public understanding of folklore.
The review criteria are:
Engagement of a broad public audience in the materials of folklore
Impact on the field of public folklore: development of models, methodology, visibility, advocacy
Impact on communities/constituents and their traditional culture
Contributions to the body of materials of folklore/public folklore
Quality of artistry in presentation: writing, photography, stagecraft, etc.
Quality of scholarship
Impact on the discipline of folklore, its theories and methodology
Quality/adequacy of nomination package itself
Breadth of support, as evidenced by letters from community members and non-folklorists in addition to folklore colleagues
The deadline for nominations is September 1, 2008. Please direct nominations, as well as your questions, to Botkin Prize Committee chair Elaine Thatcher of Utah State University's Mountain West Center for Regional Studies.
Nominations should include a letter of nomination; a one- or two-page biography or resume of the nominee; three to five letters of support from a broad range of people, including community members who have benefited from the nominee's work and people from outside the folklore field in addition to colleagues. Letters should specifically address the review criteria listed above and should explain how the nominee has taken folklore to a broad public audience.
All nomination letters and support material must be submitted in electronic format so they can be distributed easily and quickly to the committee members. Nominations remain active for three years. Previous nominators should contact Thatcher to ensure that their nominations are still in the pool, to arrange to send electronic versions of materials previously sent in hard copy, and to inquire about adding new or updated materials to those nominations.
Past Benjamin A. Botkin Prize Recipients:
Bess Lomax Hawes, folklore scholar, performer, and advocate, formerly of the National Endowment for the Arts (1994)
Archie Green, folklore scholar and advocate-at-large (1995)
Jane Beck, founder of the Vermont Folklife Center (1996)
Dan Sheehy of the National Endowment for the Arts and Joe Wilson of the National Council for the Traditional Arts (1997)
Jim Griffith of the Southwest Folklife Center (1998)
Richard Kurin of the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999)
Bobby Fulcher of the Tennessee State Parks (2000)
Hal Cannon of the Western Folklife Center (2001)
Robert Baron of the New York State Council for the Arts and Nick Spitzer of the University of New Orleans and National Public Radio (2002)
Alan Jabbour of Washington, DC, formerly of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress (2003)
Jens Lund, independent folklorist of Olympia, Washington (2004)
James Leary, University of Wisconsin (2005)
Elaine Thatcher, Utah State University (2006)
Steve Zeitlin, City Lore (2007)
Archie Green Student Travel AwardsArchie Green Student Travel Awards: The AFS Public Programs Section will provide up to three awards of up to $500 US each, named for folklorist and activist Archie Green of San Francisco, for students to defray costs for traveling to the meeting. The Section is interested in supporting graduate and undergraduate students who have an interest in working as public folklorists or who have chosen an area of public folklore as a primary topic of research.
Application materials will consist of: (1) a two-page letter written by the applicant, (2) a letter of support written by a faculty member or public folklorist that describes the student's interest in public folklore and supports the student's plan for using the AFS meeting to further her or his interests in public folklore, and (3) a budget outlining anticipated expenses.
The applicant's letter should address her/his interest in public folklore, goals for attending the meeting, and plans for using the resources of the meeting to further her/his academic and/or professional development. Previous recipients of student travel awards are not eligible to apply.
The deadline for receipt of applications is July 1, 2008. Awards will be announced by August 1. To apply, send three copies of all materials to Archie Green Student Travel Awards review committee chair Amy Mills, Northwest Folklife, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle WA 98109 USA.
Community Scholar Travel Stipends
The Public Programs Section contributes to the AFS Community Scholars Travel Stipend program, which provides funding for community scholars and scholars from other disciplines to attend the annual meeting. For information contact Tim Lloyd, AFS Executive Director, at lloyd.100@osu.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.