The Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs offers three prizes for papers written by students—the Percy Buchanan Graduate Prize, and the Sidney DeVere Brown Prize and Mikiso Hane Prizes for papers written by undergraduates. MCAA also offers Jackson and Caroline Bailey Public Service Award for outstanding work in the advancement of Asian Studies. These prizes are awarded at the MCAA Annual Meeting held each fall.

Percy Buchanan Graduate Prize

Four Percy Buchanan prizes of $100 each, plus travel expenses of up to $100, will be awarded for the best original graduate student research papers. Papers should be no longer than 35 pages. The winning papers will be presented at the conference. There is one prize for each of the four main AAS regions: China and Inner Asia, Northeast Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Graduate student winners have the opportunity to publish their papers in Studies on Asia.

Sidney DeVere Brown Prize and Mikiso Hane Prize

The Sidney DeVere Brown Prize and the Mikiso Hane Prize are awarded to the two best original papers composed by undergraduates. Prizes of $100, plus travel expenses of up to $100, are awarded to the authors of the winning papers. Paper submissions should be between 10 and 35 pages and must be accompanied by a letter from the student's advisor confirming that the paper was written while the author was an undergraduate. Undergraduate winners have the opportunity to submit publish their papers in The Wittenberg East Asian Studies Journal.

Graduate and undergraduate students may compete for these prizes if they attend a college or university in the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Papers become the property of MCAA and will not be returned. Decisions of the judges are final.
 

Submission Requirements

1. Papers should be no more than 35 typewritten double-spaced pages, including the bibliography.
    
2.  Send two copies by September 1, 2007 to:   
   
   Professor Yasuko Ito Watt
   Indiana University
   East Asian Languages and Cultures Department
   Goodbody Hall 250
   1011 East Third Street
   Bloomington, IN 47405
   
   (Please send an e-mail message to Yasuko Ito Watt (ywatt@indiana.edu) indicating that you have mailed two hard copies of your paper.  Upon receipt of the hard copies, an e-mail acknowledgement will be sent.)
    
3. Undergraduate papers must be accompanied by a letter from the student’s faculty advisor indicating that the student was an undergraduate at the time the paper was written.
    
4. Submissions should include student’s address, telephone number and e-mail address.
   
   Papers will be reviewed by scholars in the appropriate field.

Jackson and Caroline Bailey Public Service Award

The award commemorates the lifetime exemplary service to MCAA by Professors Bailey. It recognizes and honors those members of MCAA who have assiduously contributed to outreach, extra-curricular instruction, and public service in their communities. Successful nominees should have made efforts beyond the normal and expected contributions of scholarship and teaching in order to bring Asian Studies to the community at large. Such activities might include: the creation of teaching materials to be used by K-12 teachers; production of Asian-centered audio-visual materials; work with sister city and/or citizen to citizen activities aimed at intercultural exchanges; working for student or faculty exchanges with Asian Universities; arranging Asian film series, community lectures, book clubs, children's story hours, museum exhibitions, and public discussions. In short, this award for lifetime achievement honors those who have devoted time and treasure to public service outside the academy.

Submission Requirements: Both nominees and nominators must be regular members of MCAA at the time of nomination. The nomination must be made in writing and should include a summary of the exemplary activities that make the nominee worthy of the award.