Legal Aesthetics/Philosophy of Art Law Prize

Deadline: March 1, 2026

The American Society for Aesthetics is pleased to announce the establishment of a new prize to recognize outstanding published work in legal aesthetics/philosophy of art law, broadly understood.

i) PRIZE: The prize is $1000 for the prize and $1400 for travel to the ASA Annual Meeting to accept the prize. The Program Committee for the Annual Meeting will be encouraged to schedule a session discussing the winning essay, with a summary presentation by the author(s) and commentators.

ii) ELIGIBILITY: Eligibility is restricted to persons who are ASA members as of the date of the submission deadline. Eligible publications must have appeared in venues recognized by the scholarly community and that are permanently available to the interested scholarly community of students and researchers. "Article" nominations may be either a refereed article that appeared in a recognized journal or an original, previously unpublished, chapter or essay in an anthology, so long as it was published for the first time within the time period of eligibility. "Book" nominations should consist of a published, refereed monograph of original scholarship. Co-authored monographs and articles are eligible; all co-authors must be ASA members as of the submission deadline. Collections of previously published work, anthologies of work by multiple authors, self-published books or articles, and translations are not eligible. In the case of co-authored articles or books, prize and travel support will be divided equally among the co-authors. Nominations are limited to one per competition per author or co-authors. Nominations may be either self-nominations or nominations by others, but with no cover letters or other materials shared with the review committee. The Selection Committee shall have the right to decline to award the prize if no suitable nominations are received.

iii) DEADLINE: The initial submission deadline will be March 1, 2026, with the prize to be awarded every two years in even-numbered years. Eligibility for the 2026 prize consists of all eligible publications March 1, 2024 – March 1, 2026.

iv) REVIEW: Selection of the winning paper, chapter, or monograph will be made by a committee of three ASA members, appointed by the ASA Trustees, in consultation with Julie Van Camp. Decisions of the committee shall be final.

v) SUBMISSION: Three copies of the paper, chapter, or monograph should be submitted to secretary-treasurer@aesthetics-online.org at
The American Society for Aesthetics
32650 State Route 20 Ste B102
PMB 30
Oak Harbor, WA 98277

vi) SELECTION CRITERIA: Nominations will be judged based on significance of the topic or issue, quality of the research, quality of the writing, originality, and contribution to the literature in legal aesthetics/philosophy of art law, broadly construed. Nominations also will be assessed on their rigorous inclusion of references representing the diversity of contributors to the relevant scholarly dialogue. The ASA reserves the right to decline the award of the prize in years in which no suitable entries are received.

vii) FUNDING: Funds to endow this prize in perpetuity have been provided by Julie C. Van Camp to honor Monroe C. Beardsley's work in aesthetics and Elizabeth Lane Beardsley's work in ethics and philosophy of law.