Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion

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About

The Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion, established in 1996, recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion. The award goes to individuals whose work has a relevance and eloquence that speaks, not just to scholars, but more broadly to the public as well. The Marty Award is not a “lifetime achievement award” but instead a recognition of exceptional work that fits the criteria above, at any stage in that person’s career.

Nominators must be AAR members.

Membership in the American Academy of Religion is not required for nominees.

Criteria

• Relevant contributions may involve work with any of a number of specific “publics,” including (but not limited to) educational institutions, foundations, governmental agencies, media (i.e. print, audio and video), museums, business, non-profit and non-governmental organizations, policy and research institutes, think-tanks, etc.; and can be through any medium (e.g., books, films, TV, public speaking, advisory, etc.).

Nomination Instructions

To be eligible for consideration, AAR nominators must complete a nomination form and submit the required nomination materials as outlined below through the AAR Award Nominations Portal.

• Nomination Letter
  • A description of why the nominee meets the Marty Award criteria (no more than 1000 words)

Once the nominator submits the nomination form, the AAR Staff will reach out to the nominee to collect a Nomination Packet with the following materials:

• Nominee’s Current CV
• Nominee’s Professional Statement – no more than 2000 words outlining their contributions to the public understanding of religion.

ONLY nominees with a completed nomination packet will be considered. Late, emailed, or incomplete nomination forms, nomination letters, or nomination packets cannot be accepted.

Selection Process

• The members of the AAR’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion (CPUR) will review all eligible nominations and select the award winner.
  A vote of the committee determines the winner.
• Nominations are active for two award cycles.

Notification and Winner Expectations

The award winner is typically announced by early spring.

The Marty Award winner will be featured in a special session of the June Annual Meetings/an AAR WebinAAR.

Questions

For any questions, please contact us at awards@aarweb.org.