The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce that Peg Brand Weiser has won the Somaesthetics Research Prize for 2023 for her essay, "Changing Perception of Beautiful Bodies: The Athletic Agency Model," in Somaesthetics and Sport, edited by Andrew Edgar (Brill, 2022).

The review committee said: "The paper in our view makes a significant contribution to the research in somaesthetics, and does so with an impressive and scholarly investigation of the concepts of beauty, perception and agency. The contribution to feminist literature by this paper was also one of its strong points. The paper stood out as theoretically strong and very well composed."

Dr. Brand Weiser teaches at the University of Oregon new philosophy of sport classes in the Robert D. Clark Honors College and will teach the first Sports Ethics offering in the Philosophy Department Fall 2023. She is developing new philosophy undergrad and graduate level courses in Sports Ethics and Sports Medical Ethics as part of the University of Oregon Sport and Wellness Institute, launching Fall 2023. She is editor of Beauty Unlimited (2013), Beauty Matters (2000), and co-editor with Carolyn Korsmeyer of Feminism and Tradition in Aesthetics (1995). Articles on feminist art and aesthetics have appeared in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir Studies, and various anthologies. Other publications include Camus's The Plague: Philosophical Perspectives and the co-edited Myles Brand Era Special Issue of The Journal of Intercollegiate Sport.

The 2023 Prize winner was selected by a committee appointed by the President of the ASA . The prize is $1000. The winner is encouraged but not required to attend the meeting, and travel expenses to the meeting will be provided. Eligible works were articles or chapters/sections of books published in English between May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2023.

The interdisciplinary field of somaesthetics is understood broadly as the critical study and meliorative cultivation of the experience and performance of the living body (or soma) as a site of sensory appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-stylization. Contributions exploring the field of somaesthetics through one - or more - of the many disciplines that already inform this field are welcome: philosophy, aesthetics, arts and design research, technology studies, somatic, health, sports, and social sciences, history, physiology, psychology and pedagogy.

The next prize will be awarded in 2025 for work published between May 1, 2023 - February 28, 2025. The Submission deadline is March 1, 2025. Complete guidelines: https://aesthetics-online.org/page/somaestheticsprize  The nominated article or book chapter/section must be submitted in full. Electronic submissions are strongly preferred, in PDF format replicating the original publication. If PDF submission is not possible, then three copies of articles or book chapter/section must be submitted to the ASA business address. The deadline for receipt of nominations is March 1, 2025.

The funding for this prize is being provided by revenue from a generous gift from a private foundation. Additional gifts in support of the Somaesthetics Research Prize to the American Society for Aesthetics are welcome at any time. They may be made on-line on ASA Donation site.