The CELJ Awards Competition
The Council of Editors of Learned Journals is pleased to invite the participation of CELJ members (whether new or longstanding) in our Awards Competition, which is organized under two broad headings:
I. The CELJ Award for Literary Achievement (1 category)
II. The CELJ Awards for Scholarly Achievement (7 categories)
Below you will find details about this year's contest—including advice on eligibility that applies to all award categories, descriptions of individual categories, guidelines for preparing your entry, and information about the awards ceremony.
Why enter?
The benefits are substantial. A CELJ award or citation gives independent testimony to your journal's quality and visibility. Public citations, read at the annual awards ceremony at the MLA Convention, are available for winners and runners-up to use when preparing promotional materials or approaching university administrators or granting agencies. The awards ceremony, too, is an excellent place to meet other editors and hear from distinguished colleagues giving keynote addresses on timely topics. Even if your own journal is not under consideration, please join us for the three CELJ sessions at MLA, which afford editors and staff members of literary and learned journals a rich opportunity to share experience, discuss issues of common concern, commiserate over challenges, and develop innovative solutions.
Awards guidelines
Only current members of CELJ may enter the competition. No journal can compete in more than one category annually. Even 'hybrid journals' qualifying for categories in both the belletristic and the scholarly divisions are only allowed one entry. Furthermore, no journal is eligible for an award more than once every three-year cycle. Thus, no journal that received an award in 2008 will be eligible for another award until 2011; for 2009 honorees, next eligible date is 2012. The Distinguished Editor Award (in both the literary and the scholarly division) is specifically exempted from this rotational requirement.
Journals that publish entirely in full-text print, entirely in electronic format, or in a combination of the two may compete. Trade/technical journals that work primarily in areas of discourse other than the scholarly or the belletristic are not eligible. It is unfortunately impossible at this time to ensure judges' proficiency in languages other than English.
Eligible issues are determined by the printed issue date and not by the stated date of publication; that is, issues publishing late may not qualify. Electronic journals must routinely and prominently display volume numbers and issue dates on both current and back issues, and the issues submitted to the contest must be easily accessible through directions provided to the website. If an electronic journal cannot be accessed on the World Wide Web without a subscription, access must be provided to the judges and CELJ Vice President for the duration of the contest and in such a way as not to compromise the judges' anonymity. Just as print journals must submit all materials by the deadline, so electronic journals must by that time provide directions to the website and arrange for subscription access, along with an explanation of how judges' anonymity will be preserved. The same guidelines apply to part-print, part-electronic journals.
Please note that all applicants should be prepared to send a representative of their journal (preferably the editor) to the MLA Convention should the journal be given an award. Winners will be notified several weeks in advance of the MLA convention. The list of awardees will be posted on the CELJ website within a few weeks after the convention.
For requirements specific to each category, see below.
AWARDS
I. The CELJ Awards for Literary Achievement
This recently developed awards division recognizes the special accomplishments of the belletristic journals among our company, complementing the long-established set of CELJ awards that honor member journals with a primarily critical or scholarly mission. The three individual categories comprising the "Literary Achievement" division rotate on a three-year cycle. Before you submit, determine which one of the three belletristic awards is available in the current competition. Furthermore, no journal can compete in more than one category annually.
For 2009, we invite entries for the Distinguished Literary Editor Award
Eligibility: Any editor of a belletristic journal who has retired from an editorship within the previous 3 years is eligible. The editor must be nominated by the new editor or by a member of the current editorial board. Send 4 copies of the nomination with supporting documentation. Documentation may include any of the following: other letters of nomination by colleagues familiar with the editor's work; a brief C.V. in narrative format highlighting aspects of the editorship; selected sample issues of the journal illustrating key qualities of the editor's work; any other materials that can demonstrate the editor's influence on the field of literary publishing. Please provide circulation figures in the cover letter.
In subsequent years, we will invite:
Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement
In 2004, we began with the Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement. This competition solicits a single issue, published within the previous 3 years, that constitutes an unusually high realization of the belletristic journal's mission in combination with application of the highest standards of "learned" editorial practice--understood to encompass editing for selection of high-quality content, compelling arrangement of contents, style, visual appeal and readability, etc. Submissions should include 4 copies of the following: 1) the issue to be considered; 2) the journal's statement of mission or purpose; and 3) a statement of not more than one page that describes the ways in which this submission marks a "peak" or "exceptional" achievement for the journal submitting, and that also provides circulation figures. Entries may be special issues but need not be. The award recognizes significant realization of editorial mission. (The subsequent round for the Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement is 2010.)
Best New Literary Journal
New journals with 3 years or less of publication history are eligible. Print applicants must supply 4 copies of 2 different issues, one of which must be the most current issue. Electronic journals must specify which issue, along with the most current one, is to be judged. Submissions may include 4 copies of a letter from the editor, no longer than one page, introducing the new journal. (In 2011, submissions for the "Best New Literary Journal" will once more be solicited.)
II. The CELJ Awards for Scholarly Achievement
Scholarly journals in the humanities may compete in seven different categories, all offered annually: Best New Journal, Best Special Issue, Best Journal Design, the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement, Distinguished Editor, Codex for any journal in any discipline covering up to 1500, and Voyager for any journal in any discipline covering 1500-1800.
Eligibility
Member journals with a primarily scholarly or critical focus qualify for these seven award contests.
Submission guidelines for scholarly categories
Best New Journal
New journals with 3 years or fewer of publication history (2007–2009) are eligible. Print applicants must supply 4 copies of 2 different issues, 1 of which must be the most current issue. Electronic journals must specify which issue, along with the most current one, is to be judged. Submissions may include 4 copies of a letter from the editor, no longer than one page, introducing the new journal.
Best Special Issue
A fall/winter 2008 or a 2009 special issue may be submitted. Send 4 copies of the special issue or specify an electronic issue. No additional supporting documentation may be included.
Best Journal Design
Journals that have launched a new journal design within the previous 3 years (2007–2009) may submit. Print journals, send 4 copies each of the following: the last issue before the new design was launched, and 2 different sample issues of the new design. Electronic journals must provide access to the current website as described in "Rules of Eligibility for All Categories" above, and also make available the last website prior to present design--either by sending 4 copies on CDs or by providing a URL where the older site may be examined. Electronic journals must ensure that the submitted links work; non-working URLs will result in immediate disqualification. Part-print, part-electronic journals must advise and substantiate what components belong to which stage of the journal's development. Submissions may include 4 copies of a letter from the editor, no longer than one page, introducing the new design.
The Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement
Journals that have launched an overall effort of revitalization or transformation within the previous 3 years (2007–2009) may submit. This award goes to the most improved journal, regardless of its state at the time the renovations began. A weak journal that has become excellent is eligible, but so too is an admired journal that manages to become dramatically better. Submissions must feature significant editorial change and may also feature change in design and other aspects of the journal's publication. Print journals, send 4 copies of each of the following: the last issue before the launch of the revitalization or transformation, and 2 different sample issues of the revitalized or transformed journal. Electronic journals, please provide access to the current, revitalized website as described in "Rules of Eligibility for All Categories" above, and also make available the last website prior to present state, either by sending 4 copies on CDs or by providing a URL where the older site may be examined. Part-print, part-electronic journals must advise and substantiate what components belong to which stage of the journal's development. Submissions may include 4 copies of a letter from the editor, no more than one page, introducing the journal's changes.
Distinguished Editor
Any editor who has retired from an editorship within the previous 3 years (2007–2009) is eligible. The editor must be nominated by the new editor or by a member of the current editorial board. Send 4 copies of the nomination with supporting documentation. Supporting documentation may include any of the following: other letters of nomination by colleagues familiar with the editor's work; a brief C.V. in narrative format highlighting aspects of the editorship; selected sample issues of the journal illustrating key qualities of the editor's work; any other materials that can demonstrate the editor's influence on the journal's field of scholarship.
Codex Award
The recipient of the Codex Award will be selected from journals covering the period before 1500. The journal can be in any discipline—history, literature, the arts, music, or any other field—or be interdisciplinary, and it can cover any area of that world as long as the majority of that coverage is in the 'ancient' or 'medieval' periods. Specialized and general journals may apply; the award is for distinction within this historical field, not necessarily for comprehensive coverage of it.
Voyager Award
The Voyager Award will recognize excellence in any journal covering the period between 1500 and 1800. The journal can be in any discipline—history, literature, philosophy, music, or any other field—or be interdisciplinary, and it can cover any area of that world as long as the majority of that coverage is in the early modern period. Specialized and general journals may apply; the award is for distinction within this historical period, not necessarily for comprehensive coverage of it. Journals covering, say, both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—or any version of 'the long eighteenth century' are eligible for this award.
What sort of journal wins?
The journals receiving awards in past years attest to the range and diversity of our membership. There is no typical winner, as the last four years of competition illustrate:
Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement
2004: Virginia Quarterly Review
2007: Winner: Margaret D. Bauer for North Carolina Literary Review
2007 Runner Up: Richard Mathews for Tampa Review
New Belletristic Journal
2005: Ninth Letter; Runner-up: literal: Latin American Voices
New Scholarly Journal
2004: Partial Answers: A Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas
2005: Labor; Runner-up: Latino Studies
2006: Literal; Runner-up: Material Religion
2007: Not awarded
2008: Community Literacy Journal
Best Special Issue, Scholarly Journal
2004: Radical History Review
2005: Radical History Review; Runner-up: Public Culture
2006: Co-Winners: College Literature, for "Cognitive Shakespeare: Criticism and Theory in the Age of Neuroscience," and Representation, for "Redress"; Runner-up: Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, for "Thinking through Cinema: Film as Philosophy"; Honorable Mention: Philosophia Mathematica, for "Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) on Mathematics and Logic"
2007: African American Review for "The Curse of Caste"; Runner Up: Eighteenth-Century Fiction for "War/La Guerre"Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
2008: positions: war capital trauma
Best Journal Design
2004: World Order
2005: Hispanic Review; Runner-up: American Quarterly
2006: Southern Review; Runner-up: Virginia Quarterly Review
2007: Not Awarded
2008: Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
The Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement
2004: Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism
2005: Virginia Quarterly Review; Runner-up: Modern Language Studies
2006: Classical Outlook; Runner-up: Canadian Children's Literature; Honorable Mention: Italian Culture
2007: Women's Studies Quarterly
2008: English Language Notes
Distinguished Editor
2004: Eva-Marie Kröller, Canadian Literature
2005: Joe Weixlmann, African American Review; Runner-up: Raquel Chang-Rodriguez, Colonial Latin American Review
2006: Carolyn Dinshaw and David Halperin, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies; Runner-up: Donald G. Davis, Libraries and Culture; Honorable Mention: Marianne Hirsch, PMLA
2007: Winners: George D. Greenia, La corónica, and Holly Laird, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature;
Honorable Mention: Richard Emmerson, Speculum
2008: Ronald Bayor, Journal of American Ethnic History
Judging
A winner and a runner-up will be selected for each category. Eighteen judges—a panel of three for each category—independently evaluate the submissions, consulting with the Vice President, who makes final decisions.
When are the winners announced?
Awards to winners and runners-up will be presented publicly at the annual CELJ meeting during this year's Modern Language Association Convention in Philadelphia (27–30 December 2009)—during the first of three CELJ sessions (time TBA). We will notify winners and runners-up in advance of MLA so they can make plans to attend the ceremony. If you enter the competition, you are expected to be present or to appoint someone to be present to receive the award should you be selected. Results will be posted on the MLA website; we regret that the volume of submissions and cost of postage makes it impossible for us to send individual notifications to non-winners.
How to enter
Only current members may enter the competitions. If your membership is not current, please join or renew by contacting Nicholas Birns, Secretary-Treasurer, at birnsn@newschool.edu. Contest materials and a cover letter must be submitted only to Vice President Joycelyn Moody, address below.
All contest materials must be received in one clearly marked package (noting "CELJ Awards Competition") no later than 8 September 2009.
No submission materials will be returned. E-submissions are not allowed except to offer an addendum; for example, an electronic journal might reasonably wish to email a link permitting access to its website, but it must supply as its main entry a hard-copy document containing all necessary particulars, and informing us that electronic sources are also being submitted by e-mail, in time for the deadline. In your cover letter, indicate the award category you wish to enter–belletristic journals will need to check their submission category carefully–and provide contact information, including e-mail address; electronic journals must provide access information as described above. Journals may compete in only one category. Please send an e-mail or fax indicating that your package is on its way; confirmation of receipt will be sent only by e-mail. To insure prompt delivery, send submissions by courier or first-class mail–but not by fourth-class surface mail–to the address below. PLEASE NOTE: The address must conspicuously indicate "2009 CELJ Awards Competition."
Professor Joycelyn Moody
University of Texas at San Antonio
Department of English
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio TX 78249-0643
Fax: 210 458-5366
Email: joycelyn.moody@utsa.edu
1. Best New Journal
1983 Rhetorica
1984 South Central Review
1985 Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies
1986 Studies in American Drama, 1945–Present
1987 Portuguese Studies
1988 The Gettysburg Review
1989 The Yale Journal of Criticism
1990 Journal of World History
1990 Honorable mentions: Journal of Women's History, American Literary History
1991 Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies
1991 Honorable mentions: Manoa, Hellas
1992 Public Culture
1992 Honorable mentions: Colonial Latin American Literature, Joyce Studies Annual, Journal of Indigenous Culture
1993 Narrative
1993 Runner up: American Short Fiction
1994 North Carolina Literary Review
1994 Runner up: Journal of Information Ethics
1995 positions: east asia cultures critique
1995 Runner up: Modernism/modernity
2. Best Special Issue
1981 Critical Inquiry
1982 New Literary History, "On Convention: I"
1983 Studies in Romanticism
1984 Eighteenth Century Life
1985 Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, "Feminist Issues in Literary Theory"
1986 The Southern Quarterly, "Art and Artists: From a Southern Point of View"
1987 New Literary History, "Studies in Historical Change"
1988 Critical Inquiry, "The Sociology of Literature"
1989 South Atlantic Quarterly, "Displacing
Homophobia"
1990 South Atlantic Quarterly , "The Politics of Liberal Education"
1990 Honorable mentions: Speculum:
A Journal of Medieval Studies, "The New Philology"; New Literary History, "History and..."; Modern Fiction Studies, "Narratives of Colonial Resistance"; Exemplaria, "Reconceiving Chaucer"
1991 Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
1991 Honorable mentions: New Literary History, South Atlantic Quarterly, College Literature
1992 Callaloo, "Haiti, The Literature and Culture"
1992 Honorable mentions: Mosaic, Southwest Review, Strategies, Studies in Twentieth Century Literature, Romance Philology
1993 Social Research
1993 Runner up: College Literature
1994 American Literary History, "Curriculum and Criticism"
1994 Runner Up: North Dakota Quarterly, "Out of Yugoslavia"
1995 Eighteenth-Century Life, "The South Pacific in the Eighteenth Century: Narratives and Myths"
1995 Runner Up: Women's Studies Quarterly, "Working-Class Studies"
3. Best Journal Design
1981 Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
1982 Bulletin of Research in the Humanities
1983 Queens Quarterly
1984 Queens Quarterly
1985 Rhetoric Review
1986 English Literary Renaissance
1987 Southwest Review
1988 The Gettysburg Review
1989 Planet: The Welsh Internationalist
1990 Women: A Cultural Review
1990 Honorable mentions: Prairie Schooner, American Literary History
1991 Queen's Quarterly
1991 Honorable mentions: Modern Philology, Prairie Schooner
1992 The Library Chronicle
1992 Honorable mentions: American Literature, James Joyce Quarterly, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, American Short Fiction
1993 VIJ: Victorians Institute Journal
1993 Runner up: Critical Inquiry
1994 Parabola
1994 Runner up: Sycamore Review
1995 The Gettysburg Review
1995 Runner up: College Literature
4. Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement
1987 Revue André Malraux
1988 Victorians Institute Journal
1989 Susquehanna University Studies
1990 John Serio, The Wallace Stevens Journal
Honorable mention: Robert
Snyder, Christianity and Literature
1991 College Literature
1991 Honorable mentions: Studies in Canadian Literature Études en littérature canadienne, Queen's Quarterly
1992 Arion
1992 Honorable mentions: Journal of Value Inquiry, Russian Review, Australian Journal of Communication, INTI
1993 Review: Latin American Literature and Arts
1993 Runner up: George Sand Review
1994 Tampa Review
1994 Runner up: Modern Language Quarterly
1995 Critical Matrix
1995 Runner Up: Hispania
5. Distinguished Retiring Editor
1981 Helmut Gerber, English Literature in Transition (posthumous)
1982 Blake Nevius, Nineteenth Century Fiction
1983 Joel Conarroe, PMLA
1984 Donald Stanford, Southern Review
1985 Lewis Simpson, Southern Review
1986 Jill Levenson, Modern Drama
1987 Philip Mitchell, Journal of English and Germanic Philology
1988 Claude Rawson, Modern Language Review and The Yearbook of English Studies
1989 Andrew Parkin
1990 John Stasny, Victorian Poetry
1991 James Wilbur, Journal for Value Inquiry
1991 Honorable Mentions: Jim Raymond, College English
1992 John W. Kronik, PMLA
1992 Honorable mentions:Frank Lentricchia, SAQ, Charles Oliver, The Hemingway Review
1993 Gary A. Olson, Journal of Advanced Composition
1993 Runner up: Richard J. Calhoun, South Carolina Review
1994 Donald Lawler, Victorians Institute Journal
1994 Runner up: Joanne Dobson, Legacy
1995 Valters Nollendorfs, Monatshefte
1995 Runner up: John Peradotto, Arethusa