Navigation

ASI calls for submissions for Excellence in Indexing Award

By on February 26, 2021 in News

Call for Submissions

ASI Award for Excellence in Indexing

Have you written an excellent index this year for a particularly challenging text? Then consider submitting it for the 2021 ASI Award for Excellence in Indexing. Nominations for the award are welcome from indexers or publishers and will be accepted from February 26, 2020 to April 9, 2021.

Sheila Ryan (pictured with her publisher) was the winner of ASI’s 2019 Excellence in Indexing Award for her index to Churchill Documents, Vol. 21, part of a multivolume set by Martin Gilbert that relates to Winston Churchill.

The ASI Award for Excellence in Indexing recognizes the normally anonymous indexers and the publishers who provide high-quality indexes to serve their readers. The indexer of the winning index receives $1,000 and a certificate. The publisher of the book is also recognized with a certificate.

This prestigious award was established as the ASI/H.W. Wilson Award in 1978 to honor excellence in indexing of an English language monograph or other non-serial print work published in the United States in the previous year. In 2016, the award was renamed as the ASI Excellence in Indexing Award. Its purpose is two-fold: for indexers, to provide and publicize models of excellence in indexing; for publishers, to encourage greater recognition of the importance of quality in book indexing.

For the 2021 competition, books with a 2020 copyright date, or those with a 2021 copyright date in distribution prior to December 31, 2020, are eligible (proof of distribution date is required).

The judging committee is especially interested in seeing books that presented a challenge to the indexer. Scholarly as well as technical volumes and books on unusual or difficult topics often pose such issues. Trade and other types of books are also welcomed. The committee will be looking at how effectively and creatively the indexer has addressed challenges and maintained high standards of index quality and how well the publisher has typeset the index.

Judges’ Review

As an added benefit, all indexers who submit an index will be provided with a summary report of the judges’ review of their index.

Judging criteria, information on the judging process, FAQ, as well as submission guidelines and form are all available here.

The 2021 award will be presented at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Indexing, May 22, 2021.

If you have specific questions about the eligibility of an index for the award, please email the Registrar.

Comments are closed.