Annual Awards
Each year ICAS gives out annual awards in the field of critical animal studies.
Annual Awards
Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year: For outstanding media such as documentaries, films, books, visual art, operas, plays, and music in the field of critical animal studies. The media cannot be older than three years. We stress that critical animal studies includes any topic, issue, or concern (from environmentalism to prisoners’ rights) that promotes the protection, liberation, and freedom of animals in the world and is based not only on theory, but in practice as well. The media can come from any discipline or topic including, but not limited to, international studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, religion, sociology, environmentalism, critical animal studies, social work, biology, history, economics, public administration, criminology, philosophy, anthropology, chemistry, medicine, agriculture, political science, disability studies and information studies. To nominate media for this award, send the media to the address below (i.e. a book you are nominating).
Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year: Awarded to an undergraduate student who has written an outstanding paper/thesis that promotes animal protection and liberation. We are strongly interested in projects that bridge the gap between academia and the surrounding community. To nominate an undergraduate student for this award, the nominator must write a one-page letter and include the paper or write a one-page detailed description of the project.
Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year: Awarded to any graduate student working on a masters or doctorate degree who has written an outstanding paper/thesis that promotes animal protection and liberation. We are strongly interested in projects that bridge the gap between academia and the surrounding community. To nominate a graduate student for this award, the nominator must write a one-page letter and include the paper or write a one-page detailed description of the project.
Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year: Awarded to a faculty member conducting research or working at a college, university or institute who has written an outstanding paper that promotes animal protection and freedom. We are strongly interested in projects that bridge the gap between academia and the surrounding community. To nominate a professor for this award, the nominator must write a one-page letter and include the paper or write a one-page detailed description of the project.
Submitting Nominations for Awards
All nomination letters must be sent via e-mail as a MS Word document attachment of no more than one page with a: (1) a description of the project and person being nominated, (2) how it relates to critical animal studies, and, if applicable, (3) the details of when it was published, who published it, and ISSN or ISBN number. Individuals may nominate themselves.
After being notified of your award, please send us a 300 word biography and picture of yourself, which will be posted with on our website. Scholars will be expected to send monthly updates on their work during their one-year appointment. These will be published in ICAS newsletter and on our website and blog. We strongly encourage all nominees to be present at the conference.
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Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Grassroots of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year:
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2023 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year:
- Decolonial Ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean World by Malcolm Ferdinand
- Critical Animal Studies and Social Justice: Critical Theory, Dismantling Speciesism, and Total Liberation by Anthony J. Nocella II and Amber E. George
Critical Animal Studies Grassroots of the Year:
- Rural Utah Jury Acquits Animal Activists (October 2022)
- Defend the Weelaunee Forest
Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year:
- Just Animals (Eläinoikeusjuttu) 2022 ‧ Documentary
Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year:
- Phoebe Slimak (2023). Speciesism and Animal Abuse in the United States.
Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year:
- Under the Skin: Ideological Underpinnings and Material Reality of Cultured Meat by Richard Eugene Giles
- “Infrastructural approach to urban street animals of Istanbul: Contestation, violence, affectivity, and spatial visibility in Metropolis” by Ezgi Karaoglu, from Students for Critical Animal Studies Conference 2022
Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year:
- Essay: Representations of Dogs in Canadian Police Social Media Communications Kevin Walby and Crystal Gumieny pp. 48-78 in Journal for Critical Animal Studies
2022 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year:
- Nathan Poirier, Anthony J. Nocella II, & Annie Bernatchez (2022). Emerging New Voices in Critical Animal Studies. Peter Lang Publishing.
- Anthony J. Nocella II & Amber E. George (2022). Critical Animal Studies and Social Justice: Critical Theory, Dismantling Speciesism, and Total Liberation. Peter Lang Publishing.
- Lori Gruen (2022). Critical Terms for Animal Studies. The University of Chicago Press.
- 2022). Ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean World. Polity.
Critical Animal Studies Grassroots of the Year:
- Rural Utah Jury Acquits Animal Activists (October 2022). Based on the liberating of two piglets in Smithfield facility in Utah.
Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year:
- Just Animals (Eläinoikeusjuttu) 2022 ‧ Documentary ‧ 1h 20m
Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year:
Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year:
- Richard Giles (2022). “Under the Skin: Ideological Underpinnings and Material Reality of Cultured Meat.“
Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year:
2021 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Critical Animal Studies Grassroots Project of the Year
CAFTUSA – https://caftusa.org/
Sage Mountain – https://www.sagemtn.org/
Vegan Publishers – https://veganpublishers.com/
AfroVegan Society – https://www.afrovegansociety.org/
Black VegFest – https://blackvegfest.org/ - Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Breaking the Chain (2020)
The Animal People (2019)
The Game Changers (2019)
Long Gone Wild (2019)
Sled Dogs (2017)
Okja (2017)
What the Health (2017)
COWSPIRACY: The Sustainability Secret (2014)
Fed Up (2014) - Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year
Essay: Why Did Gerasim Drown His Mumu? Animal Subjectivity in Turgenev’s “Mumu” (JCAS, 17, 4, 2020)
Anastassiya Andrianova
Essay: How do You Know His Name is Gabriel? (JCAS, 17, 5, 2020)
Anne J. Mamary
Essay: Reflections on Daniel D’Amico’s Defense of Factory Farming (JCAS, 17, 2, 2020)
Thomas Raskin - Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year
The Pragmatism of Animal Libreration (SCAS 2020 Conference)
Samyuktha Iyer
Veganism is deciding that you are against all oppression’: A thematic analysis on the link between veganism and antiracism
Rafail Simoni - Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year
Issue Introduction: Biography as a Lens into Social Relations with Nonhuman Others (JCAS, 17, 5, 2020)
Nathan Poirier
Peace Studies Journal (PSJ 13, 1) Guest Editor: Annie Bernatche
Peace Studies Journal (PSJ 13, 2) Guest Editor: Annie Bernatche and Sarah Tomasello
Peace Studies Journal (PSJ 13, 3) Guest Editor: Sarah Tomasello
Essay: The Emotional Politics of Images: Moral Shock, Explicit Violence and Strategic Visual Communication in the Animal Liberation Movement (JCAS, 17, 4, 2020)
Laura Fernández
Essay: The Proximity Paradox: Understanding Reality through Animals and Fiction (JCAS, 17, 4, 2020)
Margaret Villari
Essay: Pig-Ignorance: The “Peppa Pig Paradox”: Investigating Contradictory Childhood Consumption (JCAS, 17, 5, 2020)
Lynda M. Korimboccus
Essay: “Oh! They’re Not Slimy!” An Ethnographic Exploration of Human-Snake Encounters (JCAS, 17, 2, 2020)
Cynthia Rosenfeld - Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year
Education for Total Liberation: Critical Animal Pedagogy and Teaching Against Speciesism (2019)
by Anthony J. Nocella II, Carolyn Drew, Sinem Ketenci, Amber E. George, John Lupinacci, Ian Purdy, Joe Leeson-Schatz
Voices for Animal Liberation: Inspirational Accounts by Animal Rights Activists (2020)
by Brotha Vegan: Black Men Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society (2021)
by
Classic Writings in Anarchist Criminology: A Historical Dismantling of Punishment and Domination (2020)
by
Neoliberalism and Academic Repression: The Fall of Academic Freedom in the Era of Trump (2020)
by Critical Pedagogical Strategies to Transcend Hegemonic Masculinity (2021)
by
2019 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Tyke Scholar of the Year
Nathan Poirier, Michigan State University
Hilda Scholar of the Year
Annie C. Bernatchez, University of Calgary - Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year
Book – “A Historical Scholarly Collection of Writings on the Earth Liberation Front” (Peter Lang Publishing, 2019)
Anthony J. Nocella II, Sean Parson, Amber E. George, and Stephanie Eccles - Britches Scholar of the Year
Drew Winter, Rice University - Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year
No Nomination - Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year
Aliya James Allen Weise, American University - Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year
“Intersecting Oppressions: The Animal Industrial Complex and the Educational Industrial Complex”
Meneka Repka, Lakehead University
2014 Annual Critical Animal Studies Awards Winners
- Best monograph: Kim Socha, Animal Liberation and Atheism: Dismantling the Procrustean Bed. Twin Cities, MN: Freethought House—Socha’s book animates a much needed dialogue between animal liberation and the secular, atheist public that has, she claims, not lived up to the ethical potential inherent in its own liberation from the religious dogma that has kept other animals in positions of inferiority and subjection to the human.
- Best Campaign:
TBA
- Best organization: TBA
- Best action: Interception of dog transport and rescue of over five hundred dogs destined for slaughter in Yunnan Province, China—Dogs destined to be slaughtered and served up in China’s restaurants were saved when the truck transporting them—apparently legally—was intercepted by animal rights activists. Interestingly, police involvement significantly slowed down the action, and overnight the activists treated the animals while remaining unable to liberate them. Many of the animals were “discovered to be sick or injured, and more than 20 of them were found dead.” In the end, the surviving ones were saved, to be cared for and adopted out. This was not the first action of the sort in China, a country where, Huffington post informs, “animal rights are an almost unrecognized issue and animal welfare legislation practically non-existent.” Read more about the action here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/dogs-rescued_n_1453930.html
- Best conference: 2nd Students for Critical Animal Studies Conference, March 28-30, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Best film/documentary: “Lucent,” by Aussie Farms and Chris Delforce, written, directed, and produced by Chris Delforce, music by Asher Pope—Increasingly known as the “Australian Earthlings,” the film sheds light on “the darker side of Australia’s pig farming industry,” and contains footage from over 50 farms and slaughterhouses across Australia. The film was crowdfunded, and is available for free download here: https://aussiefarms.org.au/pigs/luce
2013 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Media of the Year: John Alessio / Social Problems and Inequality: Social Responsibility through Progressive SociologyJohn C. Alessio has taught Sociology at numerous universities and has twice served as a university academic dean. He has disseminated his work widely through presentations across the United States and in Canada, and he has published in some of the top journals in his field. Dr. Alessio’s work ranges from highly quantitative to qualitative and theoretical, and he has written the book Social Problems and Inequality: Social Responsibility Through Progressive Sociology. A social activist, Dr. Alessio has worked to end war and promote human and non-human rights, which is also reflected in his writings, presentations, and publications.
- Faculty Paper of the Year: Carol Lynn Glasser / “Opportunity Fields and Animal Rights: Is Corporate Incorporation a Route to Change?”Carol Lynn Glasser is a sociologist and activist. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine and is currently an independent scholar. Her research interests include critical animal studies, social movements, inequalities and gender studies. Carol is also an activist who supports various animal liberation campaigns and is part of the organizing collective for Progress for Science, an anti-vivisection group currently working to end primate vivisection at the University of California in Los Angeles. As well as grassroots activism, Carol volunteers her research services to animal liberation and advocacy groups.
- Graduate Project of the Year: Loredana Loy / Cinema for Social Change (blog project)Loredana Loy holds an interdisciplinary MA in media and sociology from New York University (graduated in May 2013). Her research interests are focused on media generated public discourse as a tool for the animal advocacy movement and social change. Loredana is the newsletter editor for the American Sociological Association, Animals & Society section. She is also a consultant for the animal advocacy movement and dedicates her work pro-bono to help develop strategic communication campaigns for groups such as Animal Equality in the UK and the Humane Research Council in the US.
- Undergraduate Paper of the Year: Tayler Staneff (Brock University) / “Animal Liberation: A Social Justice Movement”Tayler Staneff is an activist and student pursuing her goals of becoming an animal rights lawyer. She recently graduated from Brock University with a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in Political Science with a Minor in Sociology. She will be furthering her education next year in pursuing her Masters of Arts in Critical Sociology concentrating in Critical Animal Studies. As an activist she works on numerous campaigns promoting veganism and animal liberation, as well as her continued hands-on work with local spay/neuter programs.
2012 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Critical Animal Studies Grassroots Project of the Year
“Food Empowerment Project”: http://www.foodispower.org/
- Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year
“Conflict Gypsy”: http://www.conflictgypsy.com/
- Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper/Project of the Year
Dr. Lori Gruen, “The first 100”: http://first100chimps.wesleyan.edu/
- Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year
Lara Drew: “Freirean Pedagogy and Activism: Radical Adult Education in the Animal Liberation Movement”
- Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year
James Stanescu: “The Abattoir of Humanity: Philosophy in the Age of the Factory Farm”
- Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year
Jason Hribal: Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance
2011 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper of the Year
“Animal Experimentation and the Law: Are the Laws Enough?”
Tayler Staneff, Brock University
- Critical Animal Studies Graduate Paper of the Year
“Gender and Slaughter in Popular Gastronomy”
Jovian Parry, York University
- Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year
Bold Native (Open Road Films 2010)
Denis Henry Hennelly, Director
- Critical Animal Studies Academic Book of the Year
Animals as Biotechnology: Ethics, Sustainability and Critical Animal Studies (Earthscan 2010)
Richard Twine, Lancaster University
- Critical Animal Studies Activist Book of the Year
Muzzling a Movement: The Effects of Anti-Terrorism, Law, Money, and Politics on Animal Activism (Lantern Books 2010)
Dara Lovitz, Temple University and Drexel University
2010 Annual Critical Animal Studies Award Winners
- Critical Animal Studies Book of the Year
Animals in Schools: Processes and Strategies for Human-Animal Education (Purdue University Press, 2009)
Helena Pedersen, Malmo University
- Critical Animal Studies Media of the Year
Skin Trade (Animal Rescue Media Education (ARME) 2010)
Shannon Keith, Director
- Critical Animal Studies Undergraduate Paper of the Year
“King Kong: The Effects of Film, Imagery and Literature on Perceptions of Gorillas”
Natalie Gilbert, Blackpool and The Fylde College
- Critical Animal Studies Graduate Dissertation of the Year
“The Broken Promises of Monsters: Haraway, Animals and the Humanist Legacy”
Zipporah Weisberg, York University
- Critical Animal Studies Faculty Paper of the Year
“Animal Histories”
Carla Freccero, Professor of Literature and the Director of the Center for Cultural Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz
- Critical Animal Studies Faculty Project of the Year
“The Effects of Development on Andean Animals”
María Elena García, Assistant Professor, Comparative History of Ideas Program at the University of Washington
