The committee for the David Sanjek Graduate Student Paper Prize of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, US Branch (IASPM-US) invites graduate students who will be presenting at the 2026 IASPM-US conference to submit their papers for consideration. The David Sanjek Graduate Student Paper is presented each year to the graduate student who has written and delivered the most outstanding paper at the conference.
Eligibility: Any graduate student who presents a formal paper at the 2026 meeting is eligible for the prize. A graduate student shall be defined as a person pursuing an active course of studies in a graduate degree program. This includes persons who are engaged in writing doctoral dissertations but not those who are teaching full-time while doing so. Student applicants must be members of IASPM-US.
Application Process: To apply for the prize, candidates must electronically submit a copy of their paper as it will be presented at the conference to Alyx Vesey at amvesey@ua.edu (subject heading “David Sanjek Prize”) along with a brief 75-word bio and a copy of their conference registration receipt.
Paper submissions should be in Word or pdf format. The paper deposited is to be the version that is read at the conference and should not exceed 2800 words.
The deadline for submissions is Thursday, February 26th, 2026, at 5:00 pm EST (the opening day of the 2026 IASPM-US Conference).
The winner will be announced on the IASPM-US website around the end of March.
Please feel free to email the chair of the committee, Alyx Vesey, if you have any questions.
Committee:
Alyx Vesey (University of Alabama)
Morgan Bimm (St. Francis Xavier University)
Matt Yuknas (Case Western Reserve University)
