Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology

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Awards

Call for Nominations for the Annual SPA Awards
 Deadline for the Individual Recognition Awards is March 15, 2025

(Deadlines for other awards are listed in the award descriptions)

 

General Guidelines for Individual Recognition Awards:

1) Any State SPA member in good standing or an SPA Chapter as a group, may submit one or more nominations in writing to the Awards Committee.

2) Required membership in the State SPA organization and/or in a SPA chapter is specified for each award,

3) Award nominations must have one or more letters of support,

4) If no nomination is made for a specific award, or the nominee(s) did not meet the eligibility criteria of the award, or the award committee determines that no nominee(s) meets the standards merited for that award, the award will not be given.

 

SPA Individual Recognition Awards:

 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

  
 

ARCHEY AWARD

  
 

J. ALDEN MASON AWARD

  
 

SHRADER/GEORGE AWARD

  

SPA Chapter Recognition Awards:

  JOHN WITTHOFT AWARD  
  FRANCES DORRANCE AWARD  

Student Competitive Awards:

  JAMES W. HATCH SCHOLARSHIP  
  W. FRED KINSEY SCHOLARSHIP  

Please mail or email nominations to:
 

SPA Awards Chair:

Dr. John P. Nass, Jr.
7500 National Pike
Uniontown, PA 15401
nass81@atlanticbb.net

Awards Committee Members

John Nass, Jr,, Committee Chair
Andrea Campbell
Paul Nevin
Kim Sebestyen
Amanda Valko
Erich Zeh 

 


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Past Recipients

The Lifetime Achievement Award is a special award that is given during the dinner banquet at the SPA annual meeting.  A nominee must have at least 20 years of outstanding service to archaeology in Pennsylvania and/or the SPA, should have been a member of SPA for the same amount of time, and be an exemplary proponent of the mission of the SPA.  

Recipients can be professional archaeologists (or professionals in a closely related science), or avocational archaeologists who exhibit an outstanding record of contributions to the field of archaeology and/or historic preservation in the Commonwealth, and to the mission of the SPA through public outreach activities (inspiring others to become involved in the SPA and in Pennsylvania archaeology, or served as a mentor for students interested in a career in archaeology or a related field) and leadership.

Nomination Form

J. ALDEN MASON AWARD
Past Recipients

The J. Alden Mason Award is given to a professional archaeologist based upon her/his contribution to education and encouragement of SPA members in the proper pursuit of archaeology over an appreciable number of years. A professional in a related science who similarly assists SPA members may be considered for this award as well. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate a current SPA member for this award. To be considered for this award, a nominee must have a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Archaeology or a related science. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form

ARCHEY AWARD
 Past Recipients

The Archey Award is given to a member of the Society able to devote only spare time to their archaeological interests. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate someone for this award. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. The award is presented to an individual who has given significant contributions, over an appreciable period of time, toward the unselfish furtherance of Pennsylvania’s Archaeology. This includes offices held; numbers and kinds of speaking engagements; published articles or reports; number and kinds of sites recorded and/or excavated; work with young people to acquaint them with archaeology, etc. The number of separate nominations and the significance of the reasons given for the nomination are weighed in making the selection for this award. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form

SHRADER/GEORGE YOUTH AWARD
Past Recipients

The Shrader/George Youth Award is given to an SPA member who is 18 years old or younger, and is an example of the SPA’s ideal of youth, whose character, accomplishments, and unselfish effort has furthered the cause of Pennsylvania archaeology. The recipient of this award must be a member of the State SPA (not just a local chapter), but not necessarily a resident of Pennsylvania. Any individual SPA member or Chapter as a whole, may nominate a current SPA member for this award It is expected that any archaeological sites upon which the nominee has participated in archaeological investigations should be recorded and have a designated State site number, and that they should have experience recording such sites and training to properly cataloging artifacts from those sites The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

Nomination Form

Student Competitive Awards

JAMES W. HATCH SCHOLARSHIP
 Past Recipients

The Pennsylvania Archaeological Council (PAC), in cooperation with the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA), will again award scholarships to enable students of archaeology to attend the annual joint SPA/PAC meeting, April 14-16, 2023, in DuBois, Pennsylvania. We anticipate that up to four awards of $150 apiece will be made. We encourage all current college or high school students with a demonstrated interest in Pennsylvania archaeology and the activities of the SPA to apply, although preference will be given to students planning to present papers or posters at the meeting. Applications, in the form of a brief letter of interest explaining the student’s background and qualifications for the award, should be sent by mail or e-mail by April 7, 2023 to:

Paul Raber
Heberling Associates, Inc.
904 Main Street
PO Box 376
Alexandria, PA, 16611
 praber@heberlingassociates.com
(717) 935-2204

 

 W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship
 Past Recipients

(Illustrations by Frederick Mayhew)

Calling All Students-

Win an SPA Membership, free food and money for your research!  
 

Students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree are eligible to apply for the W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship, currently 150.00 plus one year of membership dues in the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. Eligibility is dependent on a complete, single-author paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology focused on research relevant to Pennsylvania Archaeology. Student presentations must be accepted by the program chair for the SPA annual meeting to qualify. Any student wanting to be considered for the W. Fred Kinsey Scholarship should notify the program chair for the Annual Meeting so that the student’s name, title/abstract can be forwarded to the Scholarship committee for consideration. If a student’s title/abstract is accepted for the annual meeting, the scholarship committee chair, Janet Johnson, will contact the student(s) directly with further instructions. Students should not contact the scholarship committee themselves.  Award of the Scholarship requires submission of the completed paper by a single author, in an electronic format. 
 
Selection of the winning paper is decided by committee review and will be based on quality of original research, presentation, and appeal to the avocational and professional archaeology community. The committee consists of at least three members of the Society: one member from the PHMC, one member from the education committee of the Society, and the annual meeting program chair or her/his designate. For additional information go to www.pennsylvaniaarchaeology.com/Awards.  
 
Presentation of the award will be announced during the banquet at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, scheduled for April 11-13, 2025 in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The selected student paper will go through a preliminary editing process prior to submission to the editor of the journal, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, for possible publication. The editor of the journal will make the final decision on publication. Donations to support this scholarship fund are encouraged to support student achievement and development. In addition to the monetary award of $150.00 and publication assistance, a one-year membership in the Society is included in the award, as well as a reimbursement for the dinner banquet. Questions about the Kinsey scholarship may be directed to Janet Johnson, JRJ.paarch@gmail.com
 

SPA Chapter Recognition Awards

The John Witthoft and the Frances Dorrance Awards are specialty awards which are non-competitive. The John Witthoft award is determined by the SPA Treasurer and Secretary and the Frances Dorrance Award is determined by the State Historic Preservation Office staff.  

JOHN WITTHOFT AWARD
 Past Recipients

The John Witthoft Award is given to the SPA Chapter that recruited the most new State SPA members and/or reinstated the highest number of delinquent State SPA members in the previous calendar year. This award is determined by the SPA Treasurer and Secretary. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

FRANCES DORRANCE AWARD
 Past Recipients

The Frances Dorrance Award is given to the SPA Chapter that has recorded the most new sites and/or submitted the most site updates with the Pennsylvania Archaeology Site Survey (PASS) at the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in the previous calendar year. This award is determined by the (SHPO) staff. To be considered for the award, site forms must include the SPA Chapter number on the Administrative form. The award is announced during the dinner banquet at the SPA Annual Meeting.

 

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