The Robert M. Durling Prize
The DSA Council is pleased to welcome submissions for the first annual Durling Prize. Established in memory of our late colleague Robert M. Durling, this award will recognize excellence in the teaching of Dante’s life, time, and works by educators working in North American secondary schools (i.e., high school and middle school). The prizewinner will receive a monetary award in the amount of $1,000.
The Durling Prize will be awarded to an educator who demonstrates effective and innovative pedagogical approaches to teaching Dante, whether in a single unit, semester or year-long course. Submissions must include the following items: 1) a two-page resume that highlights the instructor’s involvement with Dante; 2) a description of the applicant’s involvement with Dante (between 500 and 1,000 words in length); 3) an annotated syllabus and detailed assignment descriptions; and 4) one letter of support from a former student or colleague involved with the project who is not the applicant (i.e., a peer observation). Applicants may (but are not required to) send in additional supplementary materials, such as: recordings of class instructions; examples of digital and other teaching aids used in the classroom; sample student work; student evaluations; or additional letters of support.
Nominations for the prize – either self-nominations or nominations submitted by someone who is not the applicant – must be received by July 1st of each year. Nominated parties will be contacted by The Dante Society of America and asked to submit a complete dossier by September 1st. All nominations and submissions must be sent as e-mail attachments to The Dante Society of America at dantesociety@gmail.com. Files should be saved as documents with either a .doc, .docx, or an .rtf extension. No hardcopy submissions will be accepted.
A special committee of the Society will judge the submissions. The announcement of the winners will be made in late autumn and published in the spring issue of the Society’s Newsletter; they will also appear in the Annual Report of the Society. Candidates not in receipt of the award remain eligible to participate in a future competition, for which submission guidelines must be followed.
