The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Irene H. Chayes New Voices Awards: Christopher Jenkins, Oberlin College, and Hannah Kim, Stanford University.

  Christopher Jenkins' paper is "Aesthetics of Classical Music: Assimilation vs. Integration."

  Hannah Kim's paper is  "Music, Convention, and Sound Symbolism."

Both papers will be presented at the Virtual Annual Meeting November 11-14, 2020

The awards were established in 2017 by the Board of Trustees of the ASA, at the request of the ASA Diversity Committee, to nourish and sustain an ethos of inclusivity in all aspects of the Society’s activities, and in the discipline of aesthetics more broadly.

The winners in 2018 in the inaugural competition were Emmanuel Ordóñez Angulo, University College, London, and Daniel Wilson, University of Auckland, New Zealand. The winners in 2019 were Shannon Brick and Zoe Cunliffe, both at the CUNY Graduate Program.

Applicants were asked to demonstrate the following characteristics:

1.The author’s understanding of the barriers that lead to the underrepresentation of women, ethnic and racial minorities, non-gender-conforming individuals, persons with disabilities, persons from low-socio-economic-status backgrounds, and other members of groups historically underrepresented in higher education careers. Evidence of this understanding may be drawn from the author’s life experiences and educational background, and should be explained in a short personal statement.

2.The author’s capacity to apply their understanding of the conditions of underrepresentation to their research. Applicants should demonstrate this critical perspective by, for example, proposing research topics that pertain in a substantial way to the artistic production or aesthetic experience of underrepresented groups.

Preference is given to applicants who are students, faculty on fixed-term, non-tenure ­stream contracts, or not in academic employment.

Award recipients will receive $1,000 prize. Fourteen papers were submitted for consideration for this award. Papers were reviewed anonymously with all other papers for the meeting by the ASA program committee, without any information on their request for the New Voices Award or other support. Eligibility for the Irene H. Chayes New Voices Award was reviewed by the chair of the ASA diversity committee.The final selection was made jointly by the Chairs of the Program Committee (Thi Nguyen) and the Diversity Committee (Nils Steer and Paloma Atencia Linares).

Applicants for the 2021 awards should apply by January 15, 2021. Guidelines: https://aesthetics-online.org/page/chayesprize

These awards have been made possible by the generosity of a large bequest from the estate of Irene H. Chayes to the American Society for Aesthetics.Irene Hendry Chayes (1916-2014) received her B.A. and M.A. from New York University and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She taught literature at the University of Maryland, Hollins College, and SUNY Binghamton.