We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2015 Patrick B. Mullen Paper Prize for best graduate student paper and the 2015 Daniel R. Barnes Prize for best undergraduate student paper in Folklore this year.  

The Mullen Prize goes to Nathan Young for his paper “Loss and Reclamation: Village Traditions in Western Turkey." The readers said, "We feel that the author displays an excellent knowledge of the field, expertly using ethnographic data to illustrate the complex relationships between “modern visions” and “traditional impulses” in contemporary Turkey. We especially appreciate the range of sites of analysis the author uses to formulate her/his argument, as well as the author’s willingness to provide nuance and be self-reflexive about the research process, documenting the ways in which her/his initial assumptions were destabilized."

The Barnes Prize goes to Marisa Wieneke for "Creating Custom Cornhole: The Formation of Community and Identity through Material Culture."The judges enjoyed the way this paper looked at cornhole boards as "texts," folk art that expresses the values, interests, and histories of both the boards' makers and the customers for whom they make custom boards. The paper also raised interesting questions about what happens when a "folk" tradition becomes a commercial, money-making endeavor. The author was clearly trying to put flesh on the bones of the theory and concepts s/he learned in class, and did a good job of making connections between those abstract ideas and the tangible objects at the heart of the paper.

Both recipients receive a plaque and $200 cash for their excellent research, scholarship and writing.  Congratulations Nathan and Marisa!