The James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region

The Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS) is currently accepting nominations for the 2023 James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region. The prize honors the significant and substantive contributions of Dr. James Fisher to scholarship on the Himalayas, and it recognizes particularly outstanding first books on the region. Applicants in all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

The award recipient will receive a $500 prize from the ANHS and the awarded book will be featured on the ANHS website.

Eligibility criteria:

• Single or co-authored academic books written in English are accepted, as are those that include English translations in the case of bi- or multi-lingual publications.
• Books must be an author’s first in order to be considered. In the case of co-authored books, it must be the first work for all co-authors.
• Books must have been published in the three years preceding the competition deadline of Nov 15, 2022.
• Edited volumes, fiction, or non-English language books are not eligible.
• For the purposes of this award, the Himalayan region is defined as Bhutan, northern India (in particular, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Sikkim), Mongolia, Nepal, and Tibetan areas of China.

A committee of ANHS members drawn from multiple disciplines and areas of expertise will review each work to determine the awardee. Evaluation criteria include: quality of research, contribution to Himalayan Studies, innovation, clarity of writing, and diversity and inclusion (decolonizing academia). The committee may decline to designate a winner in any given year should no appropriate submissions be received.

Submissions must be received by Nov 15, 2022.

Interested applicants or their publishers should contact prizes@anhs-himalaya.org to arrange for provision of the book manuscript to ANHS Fisher Book Prize Committee members.

A pdf of the call can be accessed here.