**Submission deadline: September 1, 2026**
Submission form: https://forms.gle/Kvx3szLPeKthDPUB8
The Disability Research Interest Group (DRIG) of the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA) of the American Anthropological Association is pleased to announce this year’s Disability Anthropology Essay Prize competition.
We understand “essay” in its broadest yet most originary sense, as an attempt or striving to advance scholarship about disability. The prize recognizes scholars who make critical contributions to disability anthropology by broadening how we understand disability experiences and/or how we approach the study of disability. In particular, the prize highlights work that:
- Offers an innovative engagement with disability as an analytical framework, rather than just a topic or ethnographic object;
- Highlights the intersections of disability with other axes of social difference;
- Uses methods of research, composition, or presentation that practice creative forms of accessibility; and/or
- Engages in a citational practice that centers the contributions of disabled scholars, as well as literature in disability anthropology, critical disability studies, and alternate genealogies of disability studies around the world.
We especially welcome submissions from emerging, precarious, and/or marginalized scholars. Submissions will be reviewed by members of the DRIG Steering Committee and winners will be announced at both the DRIG business meeting and the SMA business meeting during the 2026 AAA Annual Meeting in Saint Louis.
Eligibility and terms
- Submissions must not already have been published (but may be currently under review).
- Short works of any form written/created in the 2025 or 2026 calendar years are eligible for submission, including conference papers, articles or chapters, short films, blog posts, and op-eds.
- Authors/creators must be in non-tenure track positions.
- The prize comes with a $200 award and recognition at the DRIG and SMA business meetings.
Submission
Please upload submissions via this form by September 1, 2026. For written work, including online writing, please upload in either Word or PDF format. Other submissions are welcome in the most easily shareable format. The committee will contact you if they require your submission in an alternative format.
Questions?
If you encounter any difficulties using the submission form or have any access-related questions, please send an email to Kim Fernandes ([email protected]) AND Eliza Williamson ([email protected]).