Nominations Open for 2025 James Deetz Book Award

NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FROM MEMBERS, AUTHORS, AND PUBLISHERS
FOR THE 2025 SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY JAMES DEETZ AWARD

The Deetz Award is named for James Deetz (1930–2000), whose books are classics for professional archaeologists as well as for non-specialists. Deetz's accessible and entertaining style of writing give his books influence beyond the discipline, because they are read by a broad audience of non-specialists. The Deetz Award is intended to recognize books and monographs that are similarly well-written and accessible to all potential readers.

Books and monographs bearing a date of publication of 2021-2024 will be eligible for
consideration for the award that will be presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting.

Submissions must meet the following criteria:

• Historical or postmedieval archaeology must be the major focus of the work;
• The work must be based upon archaeological evidence rather than strictly upon historical evidence;
• The work may deal with European, colonial, or indigenous cultural groups in early modern and modern times, but not solely with prehistory;
• The work may be a monograph or an edited volume of essays on the same theme;
• The work must be well written and accessible and have appeal both to crossover audiences and to the public (i.e., not aimed specifically at scholarly or specialist audiences).

Deadline: Submissions must be received by no later than June 7, 2024.

Please send a brief email to the Chair of the Awards Committee at the address below. The letter of nomination must include contact information (including e-mail address and telephone) for an appropriate person at the press where the book was published, as well as for the book’s author(s). Contact the Chair of the SHA Awards Committee in advance of the deadline for shipping information.

Deetz Book Award
JW (Joe) Joseph, Chair
SHA Awards Committee
jwjoseph@newsouthassoc.com