Jamie Bishop (1971-2007) was the son of Michael Bishop, an award-winning science fiction writer, and Jeri Whitaker Bishop, an elementary-school counselor; he grew up in Pine Mountain, Georgia, the family’s hometown since 1974, and attended school there as well as in Athens, Georgia, and in both Kiel and Heidelberg, Germany. Jamie was an artist and a craftsman as well as an instructor of the German language at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He was among those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre of April 16, 2007.

The Jamie Bishop Memorial Award is a prize for a critical essay on the fantastic written in a language other than English. The IAFA defines the fantastic to include science fiction, folklore, and related genres in literature, drama, film, art and graphic design, and related disciplines.

 

Submission criteria:

• Essays should be of high scholarly quality, as if for publication in an academic journal.
• We consider essays from 3,000-10,000 words (or English equivalent) in length, including notes and bibliography.
  
• Essays may be unpublished scholarship submitted by the author, or already published work nominated either by the author or another scholar (in which case the author’s permission should be obtained before submission).
• Essays must have been written and (when applicable) published in the original language within the last three years prior to submission.
• An abstract in English must accompany all submissions; an English translation of the title of the essay should also be included.
• Only one essay per person may be submitted each year.
• Submissions must be made electronically in Word format.

Deadline for submissions: October 15th

Prize: $250 U.S. and one year’s free membership in the IAFA to be awarded at the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts held each March. Winning essays may be posted on the IAFA website in the original language and/or considered for publication in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts should they be translated into English.

Please direct all inquiries and submissions to:

Terry Harpold
Associate Professor of English, Film & Media Studies
Dept. of English
University of Florida
4008 Turlington hall
PO Box 117310
Gainesville, FL 32611
Email: <iafa.bishopaward@fantastic-arts.org>

Past Winners of the Bishop Award