Hazel Weidman Award for Exemplary Service

Deadline: July 1, 2023


Awarded on odd years

The Hazel Weidman Award for Exemplary Service to the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), established in 2017, is presented every two years to a member who has, over the course of a career, demonstrated extraordinary service to the profession. Any SMA member with a long-standing record of service to the Society is eligible for this award.

We announce the award publicly during the SMA awards ceremony, during the annual AAA meetings. The winner receives a plaque. The committee includes the President, two or more Past Presidents of SMA, and at least one at-large member, appointed by the President.

Two kinds of nominations are used:

1. Selected nominations: The committee may select nominees on the basis of internal discussions. Selected nominations consist of one nomination letter written by the committee, along with the nominee’s CV or equivalent.
2. Submitted nominations: These nominations come from SMA members.

Nomination Submissions should include:

a. A letter of nomination letter that provides, and contextualizes, a summary of the nominee’s accomplishments, and demonstrates (versus asserts) the nominee’s qualifications
b. An additional supporting letter
c. The candidate’s current CV or equivalent documentation
The candidate need not have been notified in advance (although the nomination letter should state whether the candidate is aware of the nomination).
Although the activities of the recipients will vary from year to year, all awardees will have made many sacrifices on behalf of the SMA. They will have worked to ensure that anthropology serves to benefit others, often by making certain activities possible for peers or by rising above and beyond the call of duty to provide extraordinary service to the SMA.

Our exemplar, Dr. Hazel Marie Hitson Weidman, for whom the award is named, was the key organizing force behind the SMA’s emergence as a formal organization (see Sobo 2011). The beta version of this award was given to Dr. J. Bryan Page in 2016 for two decades of service in song.

Nominations not selected in the year submitted will be kept for one further round of consideration by the award committee. If desired, a nomination package may be updated by the next round’s nomination due date. Following the precedent set with the existing career awards (George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award Career Achievement Award), the committee’s selection must receive board approval.

If you have questions, or to nominate someone for the Hazel Weidman Award for Exemplary Service, please contact committee chair Narelle Warren, narelle.warren@monash.edu.