Advocacy Awards

We are pleased to offer four advocacy awards:

• The WCC Leadership Award: to be given to an individual for outstanding contribution in encouraging and supporting scholars from underrepresented groups, particularly women, to enter and remain in our field

• The WCC Sharon L. James Mentorship Award: to be given to an individual for their embodiment of the WCC ideal of "radical mentoring," as practiced by Sharon L. James, in their mentorship of others in the field of Classics. Click here for a full description of this award and criteria for submission.

• The WCC Award in Professional Equity: for an institution that has taken measures to improve equality and diversity in our field, and whose culture (vis-à-vis the WCC’s mission) is a model for other institutions.

• The WCC Public Scholarship Award: This award recognizes the public contributions of an individual scholar or collaborative team for a body of work.

  Eligibility:

  • The work is geared toward non-specialists.

  • The work addresses feminist concerns (e.g., social hegemonies, adjunct or hidden labor, racist/sexist/ableist appropriations of classical antiquity, or other concerns related to marginalized groups).

  • Examples of public scholarship include blogs, articles in non-academic publications, op-eds, theatrical productions, creative art productions, media appearances (television/film/radio/social media productions).

  • To reduce barriers to entry, WCC membership is not required of the nominator or the nominee ; however, it is strongly encouraged! Join here.

  • Individual pieces are not eligible for consideration; we seek a body of public scholarship.

To nominate a deserving leader, department, or organization for one of these awards, please use the online form linked at the top of this page. Nominations should include a statement of support for the individual or department that includes reference to specific practices, testimonials, awards or other evidence of excellence in the realm of advocacy.

Nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis, but in order to be considered for the following SCS/AIA meeting in January, they must be received by JULY 1. 

All nominations are confidentially discussed among the WCC Prize Committee. The winners will be announced in August and celebrated at the WCC/LCC/COGSIP Opening Night Reception of the SCS Annual Meeting. 

In addition to prizes for advocacy, WCC also gives awards for outstanding, cutting-edge gender scholarship. Click here for more information about the WCC Scholarship/Paper Prizes.

Historical Note:
The WCC changed the timing of its awards cycle in 2021 to better meet the needs of applicants so that they would find out about any awards at the beginning of the academic job cycle. We will now be announcing awards according to the academic calendar, rather than the calendar year.