Call for Nominations

Please note: the nomination process for the 2022 Katz Prize is now closed. The below information is for reference only. For information about next year’s nomination cycle, check back in Spring 2023.

We are pleased to announce a call for nominations for the inaugural Stanley N. Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities. Created to commemorate the Council's 50^th anniversary and honor the legacy of scholar and longtime NJCH board member Stan Katz, the prize will recognize a New Jersey-based organization that has demonstrated significant engagement with and impact through recent community-focused public humanities work in our state.

Winners will receive an award of $5,000 from NJCH

Organizations may self-nominate

Winner Announced: September 29, 2022

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for nomination, an organization must:

Have completed the nominated project between 2017 and 2022 (i.e., within the last five years).
Be a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization or government entity.

Nomination Guidelines

Anyone may nominate an organization, and nominators may nominate any organization that they believe best exemplifies the purpose of the Prize and fulfills its eligibility requirements; please note that self-nominations from organizations *are* permitted. All nominations will be kept confidential.

Nominators must explicitly identify a single project for which they wish to nominate an organization, and should be prepared to demonstrate the project’s significant impact in the field of the public humanities; successful incorporation of humanistic scholarship or methods; and innovative approach(es) to a topic or question of importance to New Jersey communities, ideally the organization’s local community.

Nominated projects may take any number of forms, including but not limited to:

a book
an exhibition
an event or series of events (in-person, hybrid, or virtual)
a discussion program
an archival or oral history project
a digital humanities project

Projects that served and engaged members of communities that traditionally have had less access to humanities programs and resources are especially encouraged.

Selection Criteria and Process

All nominations and supporting materials will be evaluated by a committee of distinguished peer reviewers with expertise in the public humanities. Reviewers for this program will be asked to evaluate all eligible projects on the following five criteria:

Significance of the project’s impact in the local community and in the public humanities space more broadly, regardless of the project’s scale
Thoughtful and consistent incorporation of humanities methods, practices, and/or scholarship
Demonstrated capacity to define, engage, and sustain a particular audience (or audiences)
Evidence of creativity and innovation in the design and implementation of the project
Incorporation of community members' expertise, values, and needs in the design and implementation of the project

The inaugural Katz Prize winner will be selected in late summer 2022 and formally announced at NJCH’s 50^th Anniversary Gala at Morven Museum and Gardens on September 29, 2022. The selection committee also will designate two honorable mentions, which will be announced and publicly recognized by NJCH.

HOW TO NOMINATE AN ORGANIZATION

All nominations for the inaugural Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities must have been submitted by August 1, 2022 at 11:59 PM EDT.

Your nomination packet should contain the following (explained in greater detail below):

Completed Katz Prize Nomination Form
Supporting Materials (three)
Recommendation Letters (optional, three maximum)

Completing the Nomination Packet

Click the accordion menus below for detailed information and instructions about how to complete the nomination process. Please be sure to read the nomination instructions carefully. If you have any questions about the process, contact us at katzprize@gmail.com.

Nomination Form

Supporting Materials

Nominators are required to submit three types of supporting materials about the nominated project. Please keep in mind that the most effective supporting materials will speak to how the project meets the Katz Prize selection criteria and will allow the selection committee to experience the project as fully and evocatively as possible.

Examples of supporting materials include but are not limited to:

Digital or print products such as project portfolios, catalogues, magazines, journals
Documentary footage
Testimonials from project participants or audience members (written, video, or audio formats welcome)
Podcast episodes
Transcripts, slide decks, footage of discussion program or lecture
Publicity such as links to media coverage, reviews, etc.

Please prepare your Supporting Materials as a set of digital files. NJCH will accept the following formats: PDF, Microsoft Office-compatible files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, MP4, MOV, WMV.

If the nominated project was recorded or has other documentation available online, please provide links to those materials. For digital projects that are available online, simply provide a link (or links). Multiple links to Supporting Materials should be submitted to NJCH in a single Word or PDF document and placed in a folder for upload to Dropbox; for each link, please include a 1-2 sentence description of the linked supporting material in the document.

For publications, please either provide a digital copy as part of your nomination package or mail 5 physical copies (one for each selection panel member) to the NJCH office at the address below:

New Jersey Council for the Humanities
Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities
PO Box 3287
Camden, NJ 08101

If you have an idea about a different type of supporting material you would like to submit, or you have a general question about which supporting materials are appropriate, please email us at katzprize@gmail.com.

Nominators should save all Supporting Materials files in a single folder on your computer or in your Dropbox account. This folder should then be named and uploaded to the NJCH Katz Prize Dropbox per the instructions in the “Submitting Your Nomination” section below.

Recommendation Letters

All nominated projects may have up to 3 letters of recommendation in their nomination packet. The letters should address the quality of the project and the significance of its contributions to the cultural life of New Jersey.

The most persuasive letters of recommendation will come from individuals who experienced the project firsthand and can write knowledgeably and thoughtfully about the project’s success and impact. Nominators should keep in mind the nature of the nominated project as they select letter writers. Good examples of potential letter writers include: humanities scholars and practitioners with deep knowledge of the project’s subject matter; community members with lived experience that equips them to address the project’s local significance or the effectiveness of its reach; leaders or staff members at peer organizations with relevant experience and expertise about the subject matter; experts in the particular medium used by the project to reach its audiences.

Individuals affiliated with the nominated project (e.g. staff, board members, consultants), or those who would otherwise benefit from the project receiving the award, are not permitted to submit letters of recommendation. If you have questions about whether a particular recommender has a conflict of interest in submitting a letter for a nominated project, please contact us at katzprize@gmail.com.

Letters of recommendation should be emailed directly from the letter writer (not the nominator or nominee) to NJCH at katzprize@gmail.com. All letters of recommendation should include the subject line “Katz Prize – Letter of Recommendation for [Nominee Organization Name],” along with the writer’s full name; title, if any; affiliation, if any; relationship to the project; and contact information, including email and phone. Letters of recommendation may be pasted within the body of the email or attached to the email as a Word or PDF document.

SUBMITTING YOUR NOMINATION

Once your Nomination Form and Supporting Materials are complete, please submit these two application items electronically via the NJCH Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities – 2022 Dropbox. To do so:

Create a new folder on your computer or in your own Dropbox account and place your Nomination Form and Supporting Materials files in it. Make sure that each file is named properly and clearly (example: Tinytown Historical Society – Nomination Form; Tinytown Historical Society – Supporting Material 1; Tinytown Historical Society – Supporting Material 2; etc.)
Name your folder using the following naming convention: [Nominee Organization Name] – Katz Prize 2022 (example: Tinytown Historical Society – Katz Prize 2022).
Access the NJCH Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities – 2022 Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/request/crW5cep1SSebpZlcNHSg.
Drag and drop your folder to add it to the Katz Prize Dropbox.

Please remember that letters of recommendation must be submitted via email directly by the letter writer and not via Dropbox (see “Recommendation Letters” subsection above).

NJCH staff will contact the nominator via email to confirm receipt of the nomination packet within a few days of submission. Please note that incomplete submissions will not be reviewed by the selection committee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a single organization be nominated more than once for different projects? No. If an organization receives more than one nomination for different projects, NJCH will contact the organization directly and ask them to select the project for which they would like to be considered.

Are projects housed within universities eligible for the Katz Prize? Yes. Please keep in mind that nominated projects from universities will be considered at the level of the department, not the institution.

Are there page or length limits for the Supporting Materials? No. We realize that some of your Supporting Materials may be lengthy, particularly if you are submitting a publication or documentary. That said, you should aim for representative rather than exhaustive when you consider how much material to submit. A well-selected excerpt or clip may be more effective than a longer submission!

Who is on the prize committee? The Katz Prize for Excellence in Public Humanities selection committee is made up of individuals with a diverse range of experience and expertise in the arena of the public humanities, including representatives from NJCH’s grantee community, humanities scholars and practitioners, experts in philanthropy and community impact, NJCH staff, and leaders from New Jersey’s cultural and artistic sectors.