Student awards
There are four awards available:
-
ISHS Graduate Student Awards (GSA): to recognize outstanding scholars and promising graduate students conducting research in humor studies.
-
The Don and Alleen Nilsen Young Scholars Award (DANYS): to inspire young scholars to prepare high quality presentations for the annual ISHS Conferences. The judges look for such qualities as originality, value to the field of humor studies, accuracy of information, and skill in presentation.
-
Christie Davies Award (CDA): to recognize exemplary graduate student work presented at ISHS Conferences on any topic within the area of social sciences or liberal arts disciplines.
-
Brazilian Portuguese Special Student Awards: to recognize outstanding scholars conducting research in humor studies in Brazil.
Award applicants must
• be an ISHS student member working toward a masters or doctoral degree – Recent PhDs, who received their doctorate after May 1, 2024, may also apply for the CDA
• register for and attend the 2026 ISHS Conference
• submit an independently written conference paper (papers co-authored by an advisor are ineligible)
Application procedure
Please email all documents in a single file to humorstudies@midia.uff.br with “Student Awards” as the subject line:
• an application letter indicating which award you are competing for and a description of your research program within humor studies
• a curriculum vitae
• a conference paper abstract by May 30, 2026 (Applicants for the GSA)
• a completed conference paper plus abstract by May 30, 2026 (Applicants for the CDA and DANYS)
• complete PhD dissertation or Masters thesis by March 30, 2026 (Applicants for the Brazilian Student Awards)
Selection procedures
• Applicants for the Graduate Student Award will be judged on their conference abstract that may be in any area of humor studies.
• Applicants for the DANYS award will be judged on a completed manuscript in any area of humor studies. They must therefore submit their completed manuscript together with their abstract.
• Applicants for the Christie Davies’ Award will be judged on a completed manuscript on any topic within the area of social sciences or liberal arts disciplines. They must therefore submit their completed manuscript together with their abstract.
• Applicants for the Brazilian Portuguese Student Awards will be judged on their theses or dissertations.
The ISHS Awards Committee will review each applicant’s materials and, based on merit, make one recommendation for the DANYS Award, one recommendation for the CDA, and two recommendations for GSAs. The Committee will present its recommendations to the ISHS Executive Board for final approval, and the Board will notify the award recipients of their awards in advance of the Society’s annual Conference.
The award recipients will present their work at a special session of the ISHS annual conference and will receive certificates of achievement. The DANYS recipient will receive a stipend of $500 and the CDA and GSA recipients will each receive a stipend of $250.