The Council of Writing Program Administrators seeks nominations for its Best Book Award. This award recognizes books whose authors or editors have made an outstanding contribution to the field of writing program administration (WPA) work over the past two calendar years (2022 and 2023).
Award Requirements
The book:
- Has a copyright date of 2022 or 2023.
- Addresses an issue that is related to the scholarship of WPA work (including but not limited to writing center administration, writing-across-the-curriculum administration, assessment, professional development, curricular design, labor issues, etc.).
- Attends to concerns of diversity, equity, and inclusion within WPA work.
- Builds on or extends previous scholarship relevant to WPA work, and/or addresses a notable gap in the scholarship of WPA work, and/or re-conceives WPA work through divergent thinking and/or diverse experiences.
- Makes a significant, meaningful, and/or innovative contribution to WPA scholarship.
- Makes the contribution accessible to appropriate audiences.
- Is appropriate for the broad range of contexts in which WPA work takes place.
Nominating Procedures
Send a brief letter of nomination to the committee chair, Christina Saidy, by March 15, 2024, at christina.saidy. Arrange to have a digital copy of the book sent to christina.saidy or a print copy to the following address:
Christina Saidy
Department of English, Arizona State University
PO Box 871401
Tempe, AZ 85287
(Note: Due to the ease of circulating the book within the committee, digital copies are preferred. The committee promises to not circulate the book beyond committee members if it is copyrighted and submitted digitally.)
In a brief letter, nominators should explain how the book meets the award requirements stated above, particularly focusing on the WPA-related issue they believe that the book addresses; how the book attends to diversity, equity, and inclusion; the gap in the scholarship of WPA work that the book takes up; and the significance of the book’s contribution to writing program administrators. Nominations not accompanied by letters that address these questions may be disqualified from consideration.
We are glad to accept nominations from authors themselves as well as faculty, staff, graduate students, and publishers. We especially welcome submissions that expand diverse points of view on WPA work and that speak from diverse perspectives.
Members of the Best Book Award Committee are
Christina Saidy (chair), Arizona State University
Beth Boswell, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Lynda Dexheimer, Rutgers University
Amy Hodges, University of Texas at Arlington
Jennifer Kepka, Lance Community College
Kim Lacey, Saginaw Valley State University
Laura J. Panning Davies, SUNY Cortland
Lynn Reid, Fairleigh Dickinson University