Criteria: The 2023 annual award recognizes an outstanding monograph in Religious Studies written by a first-time author, who is a member in good standing of the CSSR and published during the previous three years (currently those with a copyright date of 2021-2023, inclusive). As this is the third year of the award (since 2015), the book prize for 2023 will be awarded to an author who has published their first book in Religious Studies published during the previous three years.
| 2015 | First time authors |
| 2016-2018 | Regular competition |
| 2019 | First time authors |
| 2020-2022 | Regular competition |
| 2023 | First time authors |
| 2024-2026 | Regular competition |
| 2027 | First time authors |
| 2028-2030 | Regular competition |
Nominations: Nominations are accepted from CSSR members and from publishers; self-nominations are also accepted. Nominations must be sent to the Society’s Appointed Executive Member by December 31st, 2023 in order to be considered for the prize in the following year. Nominators are responsible for sending three copies of the nominated text to the Appointed Executive Member for distribution to the Book Prize Committee.
Selection Process: The Adjudication Committee will be constituted anonymously and from the CSSR membership by the CSSR Appointed Executive Member. The Appointed Executive Member will arrange for the books to be sent to the committee members.
The award of $500 will be announced each year at the Society’s Annual General Meeting and President’s Reception. Books for the prize are assessed according to the following criteria:
- i) Relevance to Religious Studies as a discipline
- ii) Currency of subject matter to debates/developments in the field
- iii) Quality of style, presentation, research, and methodology
- iv) Originality
Please direct queries, and send nominations, to the CSSR Appointed Executive Member:
Rubina Ramji
Department of Humanities
Cape Breton University
1250 Grand Lake Road
Sydney, NS
B1P 6L2
ruby_ramji@cbu.ca