Dear members,

I am writing to you to encourage you to nominate yourself, or a postgraduate student you supervise, for the Veronica Kelly Prize. The only thing that nominees need to do right now is to e-mail their nomination along with their abstract to Hilary Halba on contact details below; they don’t have to send their completed paper yet.

This award is designed to recognise research excellence in postgraduate studies, and is awarded to the best postgraduate paper delivered at the ADSA conference. To be eligible for the award candidates must:

• nominate themselves for consideration to the prize convenor prior to the conference;
• submit a draft of the paper in conference presentation format (it is understood it will not yet be in publication ready format) to the prize convenor by Wednesday 1st December 2021;
• be a currently enrolled postgraduate student;
• present an original paper at the conference;
• be a current student member of ADSA at the time of application;
• not hold a tenured (that is ongoing or continuing contract) position at a university or other tertiary institution; and
• not have previously been awarded the prize.

The criteria for shortlisting and selecting the most excellent paper is:

• the paper is nominated for the prize before the conference commences;
• the paper engagingly and effectively addresses the conference theme;
• the paper presents a clear, complete, well-researched argument about an element of drama, theatre or performance studies which is of interest to the field at large, and original or innovative in its content or its conceptualisation;
• the paper is suitable for publication in ADS within 3 months of presentation.

Each year’s winner is announced in a special session at the conclusion of the ADSA conference. The Prize consists of $500 from ADSA, and mentoring towards publication of the winning paper in Australasian Drama Studies. For further information, or to nominate yourself, please contact Hilary Halba on hilary.halba@otago.ac.nz. The deadline for nominations for the Veronica Kelly Prize is 1 December 2021, at the conclusion of the pre-conference PG/ECR Day. 

Warm regards,
Hilary Halba.
Panel chair – Veronica Kelly Prize