Eligibility

  • Only current CELJ members may be nominated for awards. (To check on your membership status, login above and your membership status will be displayed as current or past due.) Submissions made for journals with lapsed membership cannot be considered.

  • No journal can compete in more than one category annually.

  • Journals are only eligible to win once every three years (e.g., if Journal X wins Best Special Issue in 2023, it is not eligible for another award, in any category, until 2026). The Distinguished Editor Award is exempt from this rotational requirement.

  • Trade/technical journals that work primarily in areas of discourse other than the scholarly and creative arts are not eligible.

  • Journals must be published in English.

  • Submissions must be of current issues published since September 1 of the previous year, regardless of cover date.

  • Journals must display publication dates and be easily accessible via a website. If a journal cannot be accessed on the Web without a subscription, access must be provided to the judges and CELJ Vice President for the duration of the contest and in such a way as not to compromise the judges' anonymity.

Submission Guidelines

CELJ typically accepts awards nominations between August 1–September 15, annually. Please check the website on or after July 1 to ensure we are open to awards for the current year as awards criteria may be updated prior to July 1.

Each category will be judged by a panel of up to three editors who independently evaluate the submissions, consulting with the Vice President, who makes final decisions based on the judges' recommendations. When appropriate, the judges may also recommend a runner-up.

All submissions must be electronic and uploaded to the online submission form.

  • The form asks you to submit a link to your submission—a URL for a website or an online storage location (Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, etc.) that contains electronic files (PDF or other) necessary for the specific award to which you’re applying. (See Awards Categories section for information on what to include.)

  • Please make sure that we have the means of accessing anything paywalled or passworded.

  • Contest materials for 2024 must be received by 11:59pm Pacific Time on September 15, 2024.

  • Due to the number of submissions, we cannot send individual notifications of nomination receipt or to non-winners.

Awards will be presented publicly at a CELJ session during each year's Modern Language Association Convention. We will notify winners and runners-up in advance of MLA so they can make plans to attend the ceremony. Results will be posted on the CELJ website after the convention.

Please direct all inquiries about the competition to Vice President of CELJ at <celj.awards@gmail.com>.

Award Categories

  • New journals with three years or fewer of publication history are eligible. Applicants must supply copies of two different issues, one of which must be the most current issue. Submissions should include a letter from the editor, no longer than one page, introducing the new journal.

  • A special issue from the previous Fall/Winter or current year may be submitted. The journal editor must include a paragraph in the cover letter explaining why the submitted special issue is exceptional. Submissions without the editor’s endorsement will not be considered. A journal may submit only one special issue for this award.

  • Contestants must reach out beyond academe and connect with a popular audience in terms of accessible language and attractive presentation. Submit an issue that seeks to achieve the democratic mission of higher education. The journal editor must include a paragraph in the cover letter explaining why the submitted special issue is exceptional. Submissions without the editor’s endorsement will not be considered. A journal may submit only one special issue for this award.

  • This award recognizes excellence and/or innovation that draws on the particular affordances of the digital. Journals may submit for consideration a single article, a recurrent feature, or a particular innovation of design from the award period; material may be drawn from all-digital journals, digital arms of hybrid journals, or supplementary digital features of print journals. Any material behind a subscription paywall must be made fully available to the judging panel.

  • Journals that have launched an effort to revitalize or transform within the previous three years may submit. This award goes to the most improved journal, regardless of its state at the time the renovations began. A weak journal that has become excellent is eligible, but so too is an admired journal that manages to become dramatically better. Submissions must feature significant editorial and/or design change. Please submit the last issue before the launch of the revitalization or transformation and two different sample issues of the revitalized or transformed journal. Submissions should include a letter from the editor, no longer than one page, introducing the journal's changes.

  • Any editor is eligible. The editor must be nominated by the new editor or by a member of the current or past editorial board who can speak to the editor's body of editorial work in a nomination letter of no more than 300 words. Supporting documentation may include up to three letters of support and up to three specific issues (with access).