DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 30, 2023!

The IAA awards a prize for the best first article in Assyriology and Mesopotamian Archaeology.

Please observe the following rules and regulations:

Conditions

  1. The article should be written in one of the official RAI languages: French, German or English.
  2. The article should be published, or should have been accepted in final form for publication, within the last two years.
  3. Applicants must be members of the IAA.
  4. A person can apply only once. There is no age limit.
  5. The winner will receive € 1,000 and the runner-up will receive € 250.

Committee

  1. The committee will consist of four persons, one from the IAA Board and three from among the other members of the IAA.
  2. The committee members will serve for three years, after which a new committee will be chosen.

 Timetable

  1. Articles should be submitted as a PDF file with embedded fonts to the dedicated email address (below) no later than April 30.
  2. The members of the committee will evaluate the articles and make a preliminary ranking.
  3. The committee will submit its selection report to the IAA Board no later than June 1.
  4. During the following Rencontre the conclusions will be discussed at the Board meeting.
  5. The prizes will be awarded during the general meeting.

Please send your article to the following email address: office@iaassyriology.com

Please also confirm the full publication details of your article.
In the case of an article that has been accepted for publication but has not yet appeared, please supply written confirmation from the editor that the article has been accepted.

 

See below for a list of past winners.

Past winners

2023

Winner: George Heath-Whyte, “Patterns of Life in the Babylonian Long Sixth Century BC: A Study of Dated Legal Tablets from Private Archives,” Archiv für Orient Forschungen 55 (2022). 

2021

Winner: Irene Deubelbeiss. 2020. New light on the Sumerian literary letter Abaindasa to Sulge. Altorientalische Forschungen 47(2): 143–185.

2020

Winner: Poppy Tushingham. 2019. Uniformity versus regional variation in the legal and scribal practices of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte 25: 29–53.

2019

Winner: Krul, J. 2018. Prayers For Him Who Is Unable to Make Offerings’: The Cult of Bēlet-ṣēri at Late Babylonian Uruk. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 18(1): 48–85.

Runner-up: Fiette, B. 2018. Le Domaine Royal de Hammurabi de Babylone. Apports de la documentation cunéiforme á l’histoire agraire. Histoire et Sociétés Rurales 49: 9–53.

 

2018

Winner: Alvise Matessi. 2016. The making of Hittite imperial landscapes: territoriality and balance of power in south-central Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 3: 117-162.

Runner-up: Johannes Bach. 2018. LKA 64: A possible royal song (zamar šarri) celebrating the Trans-Euphratian victories of Aššurnaṣirpal II’s 9th campaign. Ugarit-Forschungen 49: 1–28.

 

2017

Winner: Johannes Hackl. 2018. Zur Sprachsituation im Babylonien des ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr. Ein Beitrag zur Sprachgeschichte des jüngeren Akkadischen. In S. Finck, M. Lang and M. Schretter (eds), Sprachsituation und Sprachpolitik in Mesopotamien. Dubsar 2, Münster: Zaphon..

Runner-up: Elena Soriga. 2017. Mari(ne) purple: western textile technology in Middle Bronze Age Syria. In H. Enegren & F. Meo (eds), Treasures from the Sea: Sea Silk and Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity. Ancient Textiles Series 30, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 79-95.

 

2016

Winner: Giacomo Benati. 2015. Re-modeling Political Economy in Early 3rd Millennium BC Mesopotamia: Patterns of Socio-Economic Organization in Archaic Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar, Iraq). CDLI Journal 2015/2, published online on 1 October 2015.

Runner-up: Andrew Knapp. 2016. The Sitz im Leben of Esarhaddon’s Apology. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 68: 181–195.

 

2015

Winner: Enrique Jiménez. 2014. New Fragments of Gilgamesh and other Literary Texts from Kuyunjik. Iraq 76: 99–121.

Runner-up: Michele Cammarosano. 2014.The Cuneiform Stylus. Mesopotamia 49: 1–38.

 

2014
Winner: Kathryn Stevens. 2013. Secrets in the Library: Protected Knowledge and Professional Identity in Late Babylonian. Iraq 75: 211–253.

Runner-up: Y. Samuel Chen. 2012. The Flood Motif as a Stylistic and Temporal Device in Sumerian Literary Traditions. JANER 12: 158–189.

 

2013

Winner: Gabriella Spada. 2011. A Handbook from the Eduba’a: An Old Babylonian Collection of Model Contracts. ZA 101: 204–245.

Runner-up: Erik van Dongen. 2012. The Hittite Song of Going Forth (CTH 344): A Reconsideration of the Narrative. WdO 42: 23–84.