New Scholar Essay Prize for Catholic Studies in the Americas
The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies invites applications for its fifth annual competition for the New Scholar Essay Prize for Catholic Studies in the Americas. We invite the submission of essays penned by new scholars that offer cutting-edge research about Catholics and Catholicism in North, Central, or South America and/or the Caribbean. Those eligible for the prize include current Ph.D. candidates who are A.B.D. ("all but dissertation") or those with a Ph.D. or Th.D. conferred no earlier than 2017.
The purpose of the prize is to advance, highlight, and support excellent scholarship pertaining to Catholicism in the Americas.
View an article about previous years prize winners, Tuan Hoang, Ph.D., Kelly Schmidt, Ph.D., Brian Clites, Ph.D., and Raul Zegarra, Ph.D.
5th Annual New Scholar Essay Prize Winner Announcement
The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University is thrilled to announce two honorees in our latest, fifth annual, New Scholar Essay Prize for Catholic Studies in the Americas competition.
The prize this year goes to Dr. Susan Bigelow Reynolds, Ph.D. for her essay entitled “‘I Will Surely Have You Deported’: Undocumenting Clergy Sexual Abuse in an Immigrant Community.” It was published in Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation in 2023 and can be found here until June 7, 2024. Be on the lookout for further details about Dr. Bigelow Reynolds’ presentation on the theme of her essay at Fordham on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Bigelow Reynolds, whose win comes with a $1500 cash award!
This year the prize committee also chose to name Dr. Andrew Walker-Cornetta and his essay “‘These Are Our Saints’: A Lourdes Shrine, the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children, and the Catholic Remaking of Cognitive Disability” in the category of “Honorable Mention.” Walker-Cornetta’s essay was published in January 2024 in American Patroness: Marian Shrines and the Making of U.S. Catholicism (Fordham University Press). The essay can be accessed through this link.
We congratulate and commend both authors and hope their work will be widely read and celebrated.
Please keep an eye out for our sixth annual competition, with a deadline in February of 2025.