The Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) — Richard Higgott Journal Article Prize

This is to announce the launch of an annual Journal Article Prize for the best article published in the broad field of International Political Economy (IPE) by an Australia-based academic.

For some time, it has been noticeable that, outside individual academic journals or associations, independent recognition of IPE scholarship in journal article form has been lacking. While there are independent and esteemed prize awards for academic book publishing, e.g. the British International Studies Association (BISA) International Political Economy Group Book Prize, the recognition of something similar for journal article accomplishment has been neglected.

As a consequence, we are announcing the Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) — Richard Higgott Journal Article Prize. The Prize will be awarded to the best article published in IPE as deemed by a selection committee of IPE scholars. The award will be given to any article in IPE, understood in a pluralist sense to include the political economy of security, geography, literature, sociology, anthropology, post-coloniality, gender, finance, trade, regional studies or economic theory. For that reason, it is fitting that the prize be named after Professor Richard Higgott. In a career spanning four decades, Richard has played a pivotal intellectual and practical role in establishing IPE as a thriving enterprise committed to theoretical innovation and inclusion in Australia and elsewhere.  In 1987 he and Richard Leaver introduced the first graduate course in IPE at the ANU.  Author or editor of 20 books, research monographs and edited volumes, as well as over 120 journal articles and book chapters, Richard has been at the forefront of research on globalisation, global and regional governance, and international trade. He served as President of the Australian Political Studies Association and as Vice-President of the International Studies Association and has supervised some 25 PhD theses, including those by now leading scholars. He was also principal investigator on a number of large-scale grants, totaling some $30m, which facilitated the establishment of the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick and two major international scholarly networks providing funds for postdoctoral positions and PhD scholarships.

Nominations should be made by authors and/or academic colleagues that have published an article in the previous calendar year, either in journal hardcopy or early online publication, in 2014. These articles can be single-authored or multiple co-authored journal publications published in international or Australia-based periodicals. The only requirement is that the author (for a single-authored piece) or one of the authors (for joint pieces) is permanently based in Australia and that they commit to joining the AIPEN listserv and write a short blog post on the wider import of their article for Progress in Political Economy.

Once nominated, the longlist of candidates will be circulated on the AIPEN list after which the members will cast a vote for their top three preferences. These will be collated to make a shortlist of three, which will then be read in full and deliberated by a committee made up of Shahar Hameiri (Murdoch University), Jacqui True (Monash University), Adam David Morton (University of Sydney), Penny Griffin (University of New South Wales), and Jason Sharman (Griffith University) to decide on the eventual awardee.

The winner of the best journal article prize granted by the committee will then be awarded at the following Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) meeting, with the next one to be hosted at the University of Tasmania (December 2016). The winner will also receive a cheque for $250.

The deadline for nominations for IPE-related articles matching the above wide-ranging and inclusive criteria published in 2014 is 1 June 2015 and the full bibliographic reference, including EOI for early online publication, should be sent to Adam.Morton@sydney.edu.au. The longlist will then be circulated in August, leaving time for the voting process to be completed in September, and then the committee will read the final three articles prior to announcing the winner by December.

We look forward to receiving your nominations!