Susan Strange Best Book Prize

We’re pleased to award the Susan Strange Book Prize for an outstanding book published in any field of International Studies during the course of the 12 months up to 31 December 2022. The aim of the Prize is to honour the work of Susan Strange and to recognise outstanding current work being conducted in the discipline.

Susan was, and remains, one of the most influential figures in British International Studies. She held several key academic posts including the Montague Burton Chair in International Relations at LSE. Susan was a founding member of BISA and our first Treasurer. She was also the first female President of the International Studies Association (ISA) in 1995.

Eligibility

  • Books may be nominated by publishers, conveners of BISA working groups, or Heads of Department. Self-nominations are not permitted.
  • Nominators are encouraged to respect the spirit of the prize and nominate only books of the highest quality. Nominations must be made online, accompanied by a short statement of the reason for nomination.
  • A maximum of three books can be nominated by the same publisher. We ask you to undertake an internal selection process and only nominate books for consideration that will be considered original, make a significant contribution to the field and that can be regarded as innovative and excellent. Please ensure you detail why the book meets these criteria, and don’t just provide a dust cover description of the scope of the book (more information below in the 'Guidance for supporting statements' section).
  • Nominated books must be in the field of international studies.
  • The author(s) need not hold BISA membership. 
  • The nominated book must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2022. Where a book is published later in the year but carries a 2023 publication date, authors may be required to provide proof that the book was published in the calendar year 2022.

Guidance for supporting statements

  • The supporting statement should speak to the original contribution made by the book to the scholarly field of international studies, the significance of this contribution to the scholarly field of international studies, and what makes the book particularly deserving of consideration (e.g., based on extensive fieldwork; new methodological approach; theoretical advancement; new empirical cases, etc.)
  • Third party endorsements should not be included in the statement.
  • Statements should be no longer than 150 words in length.

Nominations are now closed for 2023.

The Prize will be judged by a committee appointed by the Vice-Chair of BISA, acting on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Pile of books

The judging process

  1. Online nominations are received and reviewed by the prize committee.
  2. Please ensure you make the case for the nomination (why should it be regarded as Excellent, Innovative, High Academic Quality etc) and please do not just describe the book subject area or provide the dust cover notes (see supporting statement guidance above for further information).
  3. Your nomination must be accompanied by each judge receiving their own hard-copy of the nominated book within 1 week of the nomination deadline. You will need to send nominated books directly to the judges, whose details will be found in your submission confirmation email. Any nomination where books have not been received by that time will be removed from consideration.
  4. The prize will be judged by a committee appointed by the Vice-Chair of BISA, acting on behalf of the Executive Committee.
  5. The prize committee produces a long-list of a maximum of 10 nominated books.
  6. The Prize will be awarded at our annual conference. We reserve the right not to make an award in any particular year.

Got a question?

Enquiries about the prize and the process of nomination should be sent to BISA Vice-Chair, Professor Kyle Grayson: kyle.grayson@newcastle.ac.uk

“[The award] substantiates the importance and timeliness of Indigenous women’s concerns and views about the concept and practice of self-determination. It is also very encouraging to see the award be given to a book focusing on Indigenous politics, an emerging but growing field in International Studies. It’s a reminder that it is well the worth the struggle to embark on an unestablished idea and stick to it even when the going gets tough. The award is also a tribute to the courageous Indigenous women who contributed to the research and informed my thinking about a challenging topic. I hope that the award will encourage scholars in other fields to engage with and learn from the field of Indigenous Studies. I also hope that it will help communities to push for the kinds of socio-political changes that are called for in the book."
Rauna Kuokkanen, 2020 winner
Rauna Kuokkanen

Past recipients

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