Library Juice Press Annual Paper Contest
The intention of this contest is to encourage and reward good work in the field of library and information studies, humanistically understood, through a monetary award and public recognition.
The contest is open to librarians, library students, academics, and others.
Acceptable paper topics cover the full range of topics in the field of library and information studies, loosely defined.
Papers submitted may be pending publication or published (formally or informally) in the past year. Unpublished papers are acceptable if they are publicly accessible (informally published) and written in the past year.
Single and multiple-authored papers will be accepted.
Any type of paper may be entered as long as it is not a report of an empirical study. Examples of accepted forms would be literature review essays, analytical essays, historical papers, and personal essays. The work may include some informal primary research, but may not be essentially a report of a study.
Submitted papers may be part of a larger project.
The minimum length is 2000 words. The maximum length is 10,000 words.
Criteria for judgment:
Clarity of writing
Originality of thought
Sincerity of effort at reaching something true
Soundness of argumentation (where applicable)
Relevance to our time and situation
The award shall consist of $1000 and a certificate suitable for framing.
Entries must be submitted by August 1st, to inquiries@libraryjuicepress.com. Entries must be in MS Word or RTF format to facilitate removal of identifying information (PDFs not accepted).
The winning paper, and possibly a number of honorable mentions, are announced on October 1st.
Papers will be judged by a committee selected for their accomplishments in the field, and in order to represent a range of perspectives. The jury uses a blind process in which identifying information is removed from the submitted papers.
Although we are a publisher, submission of a paper for this award in itself does not imply any transfer, licensing, or sharing of your publication rights.
Past winners
2016 – Lisa Sloniowski, for “Affective Labor, Resistance, and the Academic Librarian,” published in Library Trends in 2016.
2015 – James Lowry, for “Information and the Social Contract,” unpublished at the time of award.
2014 – Michelle Caswell, for “Inventing New Archival Imaginaries: Theoretical Foundations for Identity-Based Community Archives,” published as a chapter in Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the United States and Canada, Litwin Books, 2014.
2013 – Ryan Shaw, for “Information Organization and the Philosophy of History,” published in JASIST in June 2013.