The LSA is now soliciting nominations for the C. L. Baker Award. This is a new award, intended to honor the legacy of the late C. L. Baker (1939-1997) and funded by a generous gift from his family.

Submit a nomination

THE PRIZE

The prize will recognize excellence in research in the area of syntactic theory on the part of a scholar who is at the mid-point of a distinguished career.  The typical nominee will be at least 3 years beyond tenure and will be on the brink of being promoted to the next major rank past the tenure point -- full Professor at many universities, perhaps different in the case of institutions which use the title Professor at the point of tenure.  Scholars very recently promoted to that rank are not excluded.  The typical nominee will thus be 10-20 years beyond the dissertation.  Nominees should be members of the LSA at the point at which the prize is awarded. The winner will receive a $500 honorarium and will be recognized at a ceremony at the LSA Annual Meeting. 

SELECTION CRITERIA

The prize is intended to recognize a distinguished and still unfolding research record in syntax, one which meets the following criteria:

• it has had significant impact;
• it is forward-looking and innovative;
• it is empirically careful; and
• it engages the larger intellectual context for research on human language and goes beyond the merely technical in its analyses and proposals.

NOMINATION PROCESS

In the typical case, nominations will be submitted by a colleague or group of colleagues of the nominee, but self-nominations are not excluded. I preliminary nomination consisting of the nominee's name, CV and/or website URL, must be submitted here no later than August 1, 2019.  A final nomination, consisting of a nomination form, an updated curriculum vitae for the nominee, and a brief citation that can be read at the presentation of the award, must be submitted at the same link by September 1, 2019. 

Nomination proposals will be assessed by a review committee of three individuals appointed by the LSA for that purpose. The initial review committee consists of Jane Grimshaw (Rutgers University), James McCloskey (University of California,  Santa Cruz) (Chair) and Stephen Wechsler (University of Texas at Austin). The review committee will submit a report and recommendation to the Executive Committee of the LSA, whose responsibility it will be to make a final award decision.

Nominations of women and underrepresented ethnic minorities are strongly encouraged.