The Medieval Academy Blog

In recent years, it has become clear that the amounts offered by several of our many grant programs were not keeping up with the actual costs being incurred by grantees. In the summer of 2025, the Council requested that I assemble an Ad Hoc Committee on Grants & Fellowships to carefully review our current grant making programs and formulate a proposal that would 1) carefully consider how these programs serve the changing needs of our various constituencies; 2) increase the amounts of several grants while necessarily decreasing the number grants offered; and 3) do so without significantly adding to our annual non-restricted expenditures. The Committee was also tasked with codifying an Adjudication Policy.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Grants & Fellowships was comprised of former members of several of our adjudication committees: Joseph Ackley (Wesleyan Univ.); Richard Barton (Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro); Cristina Maria Cervone (Univ. of Memphis); Sarah Davis-Secord (Univ. of New Mexico); and Craig Nakashian (Texas A&M Univ. – Texarkana). Their thoughtful proposal was approved by the Council at its quarterly meeting last week. I am extremely grateful to the Committee for their hard work and to the Council for their oversight. These changes will be implemented as of January 2027:

Funding for Students:
Annual Meeting Student Bursaries: three bursaries of $1,000 each (formerly 6-7 bursaries of $500 each);

Annual Meeting Best Student Paper Prize: one prize of $1,000 (formerly $500);

Birgit Baldwin Fellowship: one grant of $27,000 (formerly $20,000; this increase is entirely funded by a restricted bequest from the Estate of Jenny Jochens, Birgit Baldwin’s mother);

Dissertation Grants: four grants of $4,000 each (formerly nine grants of $2,000 each).

Funding for Non-Tenure-Track or Under-funded Medievalists:

Annual Meeting Inclusivity & Diversity Travel Grant: one grant of $1,000 (formerly $500);

Olivia Remie Constable Awards: two grants of $3,500 each (formerly four grants of $1,500 each);

Travel Grants: five grants of $1,500 each (formerly 6-7 grants of $500-$750 each).

For several grants, we have also made changes to the dossier components in order to lower barriers to submitting an application, in particular as regards the number of required recommendation letters. It is our hope that these changes will better serve our members in a changing funding landscape.

– Lisa

We are thrilled to invite you to join us in Toronto from April 15-17 for the 102nd Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America! Since 1967, our meeting has been held at the University of Toronto every decade “on the 7s,” and we are very pleased that the University will be hosting us next year. The Annual Meeting will be held at Trinity College and St Michael’s College (two of the federated colleges in the University of Toronto college system) and will be officially hosted by The Centre for Medieval Studies in partnership with the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and the Canadian Society of Medievalists. Keynote speakers will be MAA President Haruko Momma (New York University), Siân Echard (University of British Columbia), and Adrienne Williams Boyarin (University of Victoria). The program will be posted and registration will open in early 2027. We look forward to seeing you there!

Volunteer committee service is critically important to our mission, and we welcome your expertise and efforts. Even if you have already checked the relevant box on your MAA Member Profile page or you self-nominated for service last year, please confirm your specific area of interest and provide additional information by filling out this form to self-nominate for committee service in the upcoming cycle. You may also nominate a colleague.

See our FAQ page for information about how Committee members are selected. Committee members seated in the upcoming cycle will begin their three-year term of service in March 2025.

Click here for more information and to submit a nomination.

Thank you for your interest!

The Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations to fill one upcoming vacancies on its Executive Committee. CARA strives to assist institutions and individual medievalists in meeting the challenges that face medieval studies in the classroom, the library, and other institutional settings locally and nationally.

Members of the Executive Committee serve four-year terms; in addition to working with the CARA Chair on programming, outreach, and curricular initiatives, each member serves on two of CARA’s four subcommittees responsible for the CARA Teaching Award, the CARA Robert Kendrick Service Prize, the CARA Regional Conference Grant, and the MAA-CARA Graduate Student Summer Scholarships.

Service on the CARA Executive Committee is open to all members in good standing of the Medieval Academy of America, who may nominate themselves or be nominated by another individual. Given our goals to have regional representation on the Executive Committee, we are particularly encouraging medievalists with experience or appointments in the southwest, west, or on the west coast to apply. Nominations should include the following:

1. Name of nominee;

2. Nominee’s institutional or professional affiliation (including that of independent scholar);

3. A brief (c. 250-word) statement indicating the nominee’s qualifications for Executive Committee service, including their contributions to the areas of teaching, center or program administration, and/or professional collaboration and development in the field of Medieval Studies.

In accordance with CARA’s Policies and Procedures, nominations will be accepted until 1 November 2026 and reviewed thereafter by the CARAE xecutive Committee, which will forward its recommended candidate for approval by the Medieval Academy’s Council. The term of service for new members will begin at the conclusion of CARA’s annual meeting at University of Toronto in April 2026. Please send nominations, as well as any questions or requests for further information, to the CARA Chair, Lauren Mancia (LaurenMancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu).

We are very pleased to announce that the MAA is continuing its partnership with the American Trust for the British Library! MAA grantwinners who need to conduct research at the British Library are eligible for an additional $2,500 Fellowship from ATBL to support that research. When you apply for an MAA grant, you may check a box indicating your interest in being considered for this supplementary Fellowship, should your MAA application be funded. We are extremely grateful to the ATBL for supporting our members in such a generous way!

The Medieval Academy of America invites applications for the following grants. Please note that applicants must be members in good standing at the time of application.

Fellows Research Awards

The Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America have donated funds to support two research awards for members of the Medieval Academy who do not have access to research funding. Two Awards of $5,000 will be funded each year to Ph.D. candidates and/or non-tenure-track scholars to support research in medieval studies. The awards will help fund travel and/or access expenses to consult original sources, archives, manuscripts, works of art, or monuments in situ. To apply for a Fellows Research Award, submit the application form and attachment by October 15, 2026.

MAA/CARA Conference Grant

The MAA/CARA Conference Grant will be awarded annually to a regional or consortial Medieval Studies Program or Association to support an annual regional or consortial conference taking place the year after the application is submitted (for example, applications will be accepted in 2025 for conferences taking place in 2026). Awards will be based on proposals adjudicated by the Academy’s CARA Committee. One (1) grant of $1,000 will be awarded each year. (Deadline 15 October 2026)

Schallek Fellowship

Funded by the Richard III Society, American Branch. As of July 2024, the scope and amount of the Schallek program have changed in accordance with the Society’s instructions, as follows: “Applications will be solicited from graduate students whose work, in any relevant discipline, focuses primarily on the late medieval period in England or any of the British Isles, or which involves British connections to the European Continent in the late medieval period. ‘Late Medieval’ will be defined broadly as the period c.1350-1500 or so.” The Schallek Fellowship provides a one-year grant of $40,000 to support Ph.D. dissertation research. (Deadline 15 October 2026 for funding beginning in September 2027)

Travel Grants

The Medieval Academy provides a limited number of travel grants to help Academy members who hold PhDs but have no access to institutional travel funding, attend conferences to present their work. Exceptions to the PhD requirement may be made for unaffiliated or contingent scholars who are active in Medieval Studies (Deadline 1 November 2026 for meetings to be held between 16 February and 31 August 2027)

Submissions for the 2027 MAA Publication Prizes are now being accepted. Submissions and dossiers must be submitted by Oct. 15 using our Publication Prize portal.

Through its Publication Prize program, the Medieval Academy of America aims to accomplish three goals:

1) Honoring and promoting outstanding scholarship produced by medievalists;

2) Supporting authors in any medieval field and at all career levels by raising the visibility of their scholarship;

3) Acknowledging the work of publishers of all kinds.

Award-winning publications scholarship should function as a model of current best practices in Medieval Studies and as a model for the future of the field. Although the various Prizes have specific eligibility criteria, general procedures and requirements are as follows:

1) In contrast to past years, authors of submitted books need not be members of the Medieval Academy of America.

2) All prize winners will receive a complimentary one-year MAA membership in addition to the prize.

3) All publishers are eligible, whether non-profit or for-profit.

4) Nominations may be submitted by authors or by publishers, but all submissions must use the central Publications Prize Portal. Please note that incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

5) Ordinarily a nomination should go forward in a single category for a given year. Authors and publishers should contact the Executive Director LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org for queries about exceptions to this policy.

6) Monographs that have previously been awarded an MAA Publication Prize are not eligible for other MAA Publication Prizes except for the Haskins Medal.

7) Submissions may be by hardcopy and/or eBook but eBook is preferred.

8) All submissions and supporting documents must be received by 15 October.

9) Prizes will be announced in February and awarded during the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America.

10) Authors need not be residents of North America, but all submissions must be written in English.

Monograph Prizes:

John Nicholas Brown Prize: Best First Monograph

Byzantine Studies Prize: Best Monograph in Byzantine Studies

Karen Gould Prize: Best Medieval Art History Monograph

Haskins Medal: Best Monograph in Medieval Studies

Jerome Singerman Prize: Best Second Monograph

Article Prizes:

Article Prize in Critical Race Studies: Best Article in the field of Medieval Critical Race Studies

Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize: Best Early-Career Article

Other Formats:

Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Prize: Best DH Project

Monica Green Prize: For an exceptional project (for example, a publication, exhibit, performance, or DH project) that shows the importance of studying the medieval past to understand the present.

Robert L. Kindrick–CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies: The Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations for its annual service prize. The Robert L. Kindrick–CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies recognizes Academy members who have provided leadership in developing, organizing, promoting, and sponsoring medieval studies through their administrative work—work that is critical to the health of medieval studies, but that often goes unrecognized by the profession at large. This award of $1000 is presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy. The annual deadline for nominations is 15 November; please note that three nominators are required, all of whom should have first-hand knowledge of the nominee’s contributions to Medieval Studies. For more information, please visit the CARA Service Award web page.

CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching: The Medieval Academy’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations for its annual teaching prize, which recognizes outstanding pedagogical achievement by Medieval Academy members. This can include:

• teaching inspiring courses at the undergraduate or graduate levels;

• creating innovative teaching materials (including textbooks);

• developing courses and curricula;

• scholarship of teaching and learning (including presentations at conferences as well as publications)

• support for K-12 pedagogy and curricula;

• community-oriented or publicly-directed educational initiatives.

Normally, one prize is given for undergraduate and one prize for graduate teaching, each in the amount of $1000. These will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy. The annual deadline for nominations is 15 November. For more information, please visit the CARA Teaching Award web page.

The Future of Translation Work for Teaching and Scholarship
Tuesday, October 6th
2:30-3:30pm EDT

Panelists: Anna Siebach-Larson (U of Rochester / METS); Daniel Donoghue (Harvard / Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library); Albrecht Diem (Syracuse U)

Translations of medieval sources allow us to bring the Middle Ages to life for our students and ensure future generations’ interest in the premodern past. But while translation work requires substantial time and expertise, it is often undervalued relative to other kinds of scholarship. The advent of AI and open access publication has also brought new opportunities and challenges for translators and editors. Given this, how can we support the vital work of translators and help scholars articulate the value of translation as they navigate the job market, tenure and promotion, and funding opportunities? Whether you are actively engaged in a translation project or just curious about how this kind of work might fit into your professional trajectory as a medievalist, we hope you will join us for a conversation about the future of translation work in medieval studies.

Click here to register!

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How to talk to your Provost or President: Advice from Medievalist Provosts & Presidents
Friday, January 22, 2027
5pm-6pm EST

Moderated by Christina Christoforatou Konstantinis (Baruch College, CUNY). 

Panelists: Anne Harris, Grinnell College, Iowa (President of Grinnell College and Professor of Art History); Jeff Bowman, Kenyon College, Ohio (Provost of Kenyon College and Professor of History); David Sylvester, St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto (President of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, and Professor of History)

So many of us who are working to advocate for medieval studies in universities today are trying to better understand our academic administrators. How can we advocate for our programs at an age that seems to increasingly devalue the Humanities and premodern studies across disciplines? What initiatives, partnerships, or investments are possible and worth pursuing? How can faculty advocate for their programs, scholarship, and students? Join us for this special CARA zoom session when we will get the inside scoop thanks to this panel of medievalist-provosts and presidents. To better streamline our conversation, please send any questions you might have for our panel of provosts and presidents by January 7, 2027 (email them to laurenmancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu).

Click here to register.

If you have recently seen a major research project to completion, please let us know! The 2027 Medieval Academy meeting at the University of Toronto (15-17 April 2027) will feature two sessions celebrating “New Scholarship.” The sessions will take place during the regularly scheduled MAA program and will provide an opportunity for us to learn about each other’s recent publications or other projects and to celebrate these research milestones together. If you would like to participate in this session, in which individual members will briefly present (ca. 5-10 mins) a major publication or publicly available project, please reach out to Fiona Griffiths (fgriffit@stanford.edu) and Sean Gilsdorf (gilsdorf@fas.harvard.edu) by October 15, 2026 with an expression of interest and brief description of the work. All members with recently completed major projects are warmly welcome. Notifications will be sent out by November 1, 2026.

Season 6 Call for Proposals | The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast
Submission Deadline: October 15, 2026

After five successful seasons, The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast (MMA) will return for its sixth in 2027. Sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America (MAA), the MMA is an anthology-style podcast that seeks to continue conversations and generate new avenues of inquiry related to the Middle Ages that emphasize the period’s diversity and the scholarship related to it. We highlight thoughtful reflections on culturally responsible approaches to the study of the Middle Ages (expansive beyond western Europe) and its afterlives.

We invite proposals from individuals and collaborators of all ranks and disciplines, especially graduate students, for single podcast episodes aimed at fellow medievalists as well as the wider public.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

· innovative methodological and interdisciplinary approaches to the Middle Ages

· the future of medieval studies

· research on the multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic Middle Ages

· discussions of recent scholarship and publications

· archival discoveries

· academic activism and responses to misappropriations of the Middle Ages

· pedagogical approaches

· medievalisms

· medieval culture in contemporary political and public discourse

· cultural heritage and approaches to curating exhibitions of the Middle Ages

Possible formats include narrative expositions, interviews, panel discussions, textual and material analyses, and oral performances.

No previous experience with podcasting is required. The Graduate Student Committee of the MAA has hosted several workshops on podcasting for beginners, which are now available on the MAA YouTube channel, and if accepted, an MMA producer will support you through the episode development and post-production process. We do not turn away contributors due to a lack of podcasting expertise!

To help us assess the project’s potential, your submission must include a brief description (500 words), noting the following:

· chosen topic, its relevance to the podcast, and a working title

· plan for adapting to the podcast medium (35–45 min. episodes are encouraged, but proposals of shorter or longer durations are also welcome)

· format (interview, roundtable, etc.) with an outline of anticipated structure

· assistance needed to realize the episode (note: we handle final editing, but please let us know if you would also need help recording or facilitating an interview, etc.)

Please also include each episode author’s name, CV, and email address.

Submit your proposals and any questions to mmapodcast1@gmail.com by 15 October 2026.

The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast Production Team
Will Beattie
Reed O’Mara
Logan Quigley
Jonathan Correa Reyes
Loren Easterday Lee Cantrell