About the Angela Y. Davis Prize

The Angela Y. Davis Prize recognizes scholars who have applied or used their scholarship for the public good. Winners of the award receive lifetime membership in the association and recognition at our annual meeting.

The award is named after Angela Y. Davis, prominent black feminist thinker, writer, activist, and prison abolitionist who has authored such books as Women, Race, and Class and Are Prisons Obsolete?, as well as Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prisons, Torture, and Empire. Davis was a critical voice in black freedom struggles and continues to organize against the prison-industrial complex. She has held academic positions at the University of California, Los Angeles, San Francisco State University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she retired.

Nomination deadline: May 15th by 11:59 pm PT

Eligibility Requirements

Current ASA members whose work explicitly aims to educate the public, influence policies, or address inequalities in imaginative, practical, and applicable forms. Eligible projects include but are not limited to public art, exhibits, films, performances, books, collaborations with community-based organizations, and engaging students in community-based projects.

Anyone can submit a nomination on an ASA member's behalf. Individuals can also apply, or self-nominate. 

Nomination Instructions

Please submit the following materials as a single PDF. The nominator should coordinate compilation of all application materials so as not to burden the nominee

  1. Nomination letter/statement (2 pages max) 
  2. Letters of recommendation (2 letters max): Multiple signatories on letters are encouraged
  3. Nominee's CV

Nominate Here by May 15th

Questions? Contact asastaff@theasa.net. 

Past Winners

  • 2025: Christine Hong, University of California Santa Cruz
  • 2024: Giannina Braschi, Writer
  • 2023: Cathy Cohen, University of Chicago, and Rabab Abdulhadi, San Francisco State University 
  • 2022: Lorgia García Peña, Tufts University
  • 2021: Noliwe Rooks, Cornell University
  • 2020: Michelle Daniel (Jones), New York University
  • 2019: Haunani-Kay Trask, professor emerita, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
  • 2018: Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • 2017: No selection
  • 2016: Steven Salaita, American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
  • 2015: Robin Davis Gibran Kelley, University of California, Los Angeles
  • 2014: Rosa-Linda Fregoso, University of California, Santa Cruz
  • 2013: George Lipsitz, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • 2012: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, City University of New York Graduate Center