The ICMA has initiated a new form of grant for graduate students in the early stages of their dissertation research. Three grants will be awarded this year, at $3,000 each, to enable a student to travel to Europe (including the Eastern Mediterranean) to visit the monuments or museum objects or manuscripts on which the dissertation will be based. The grant is designed to cover one month of travel. The ICMA will contact institutions and/or individuals in the area to be visited; these will help the student gain access to the relevant material and aid in other practical matters.

The grant is designed primarily for the student who has finished the preliminary exams, and is in the process of formulating a dissertation topic. Students who have already submitted a proposal, but are still very early on in the process of their research, may also apply.

All applicants must be ICMA members. (click here to join/renew)

Applicants must submit:

1. Outline of the thesis proposal in 800 words or less.

2. Detailed outline of exactly what the student would like to see on his/her travels, and how this relates to the proposed thesis topic.

3. Proposed budget (airfare, lodging, other travel, per diem).

4. Letter from the thesis advisor, clarifying where the student stands in his/her graduate career, and explaining the relevance of the trip to the thesis.

Upon return, the student will be required to submit a letter and financial report to the ICMA and a narrative to the student section of the newsletter.

Applications are due by 1 March 2016. The ICMA will announce the winners of the three grants by 13 May 2016.

Please submit materials as PDF attachments to Ryan Frisinger at awards@medievalart.org with "Student Travel Grant" in the subject line.

The International Center of Medieval Art wishes to announce its annual Graduate Student Essay Award for the best essay by a student member of the ICMA. The theme or subject of the essay may be any aspect of medieval art, and can be drawn from current research. The work must be original and should not have been published elsewhere. The winner will receive a prize of $400.

Thanks to the generosity of one of our members, we are now be able to offer a second prize as well, of $200. The donor of this prize has suggested that “special consideration be given to those papers that incorporate some discussion of the interconnections among medieval science, technology, and art.” Although the prize will by no means be restricted to papers that address this theme, papers that do so will be given special attention by the selection committee.

The deadline for submission is 1 March 2016. The winners will be announced at the ICMA meeting in Kalamazoo in May.

Applicants must submit:

1. An article-length paper (maximum 30 pages, not including footnotes) following the editorial guidelines of our journal Gesta.

2. Each submission must also include a 250-word abstract written in English regardless of the language of the rest of the paper.

3. A curriculum vitae

Students must be current members of the ICMA for their essays to be considered.

All submissions are to be sent as PDF attachments to Ryan Frisinger atawards@medievalart.org with "Student Essay Award" in the subject line..

The winning essay will be chosen by members of the ICMA Grants and Awards Committee, which is chaired by our Vice-President.