The award will be given in the fall of 2015 by Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and in the spring of 2016 by WOLA in Washington, DC. The author of the winning book will be invited to give a reading at these two events and will receive a $1,000 cash prize (in the case of two or more authors, the prize money will be distributed equally among them).
To be eligible, books must meet the following criteria:
- An original, non-fiction book related to issues of human rights, the rule of law, social and/or economic justice, or democracy in contemporary Latin America. Books should pertain to events that took place in roughly the past 25 years.
- Published in the English language by a commercial, university, or non-profit publishing concern. Books written originally in other languages and translated into English are eligible. Self-published books are not eligible.
- Books published in 2014 and 2015 will be eligible for the 2015 prize. Books published during or before 2013 are not eligible.
- Scholarly and popular books are eligible. Edited anthologies are not eligible.
Judges will be looking for books that offer important contributions to research on Latin America while also enriching the general public’s understanding of Latin America. The winning book will reflect the standards of originality, high-quality research, and clear writing to which WOLA aspires in its own publications. Judges are drawn from WOLA’s staff and board of directors, Duke University, and the academic community at large.
Please fill out a nomination form, available upon request, and email it to vloredo@wola.org. Nominators are also encouraged to send one copy of the book, though this is not required for nomination. No additional supporting materials or reviews are necessary. For books due to be published in 2015 after the entry deadline, nominators should send a pre-publication copy, indicating the publication date.
Please send copies of books to:
WOLA-Duke Book Award
c/o Vania Loredo
Washington Office on Latin America
1666 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Previous Award Recipients:
2014- Oscar Martinez, The Beast
2013 – Jonathan M. Katz, The Big Truck That Went By
2012 – Héctor Abad, Oblivion: A Memoir
2011 – Kathryn Sikkink, The Justice Cascade
2010 – Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes, with Jorge Enrique Botero, Hostage Nation
2009 – Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet
2008- Francisco Goldman,The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop
For more information, please contact:
Vania Loredo, Washington Office on Latin America
vloredo@wola.org
202-797-2171
Patrick Stawski, Duke University
patrick.stawski@duke.edu
919-660-5823
