Southeastern Archaeological Conference |
Judith G. Knight Student Paper Competition
The Judith G. Knight SEAC Student Paper Competition is one of the highlights of the annual meeting. The value of this award lies first and foremost in the recognition that the winner and the runner-up receive from peers and colleagues. These student winners are among our best and brightest and it is always a pleasure to acknowledge their contributions. However, in the words of T.R. Kidder, one cannot eat prestige! Thus, the winner receives a substantial collection of new and recent books on Southeastern Archaeology awarded at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference. The runner-up receives a Lifetime membership in SEAC and all back issues of the journal Southeastern Archaeology.
Who May Apply?
Any person currently enrolled in an academic, degree-granting program or having graduated since the last SEAC meeting may submit a paper to the competition. Only papers having one author are eligible. The paper must be on the program of the upcoming annual meeting. Presenting a paper at the meeting requires membership in SEAC, and requires that a paper proposal be submitted to the Meeting Organizer by the deadline for submissions.
To enter the Competition, papers must be submitted in advance of the meeting to a committee appointed by the Executive Board of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (see How to Apply, below). It is also the responsibility of the submitter to send to the Program Chairperson of the Annual Meeting an abstract and the necessary registration forms at the proper time. To be eligible for the Competition, your paper must be part of the program at the conference.
How to Apply
You may email a Word or pdf version to the Chair of the Judith G. Knight Student Paper Competition Committee by October 15th (see Standing Committees page). The paper reviewed for the Competition must have THE SAME CONTENT as that presented at the Annual Meeting and can include any tables or figures that will be used in the presentation. The paper MUST be limited to 10 PAGES OF DOUBLE-SPACED TEXT, no more than 2900 words. Figures, tables, and references should be submitted on separate pages (not interspersed among the text) and not included in the total page count. Any papers with OVER 10 PAGES/2900 WORDS of text will be not be accepted for consideration. A cover letter should accompany the entry, containing a representation of the submitter's current status in a degree program. Only one submission per applicant will be considered for the award. Papers will be evaluated based on topical relevance, theoretical sophistication, analytical sophistication, data quality, logic and impact of interpretations, and overall quality of writing.
The winners of the Competition will be announced at the Annual Business Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference. The winners will receive their prizes the following day. The Committee reserves the prerogative to defer the Competition and award in the event of a shortage of entries.
Past Recipients
2023
- Jordan Schaefer (1st place), University of Tennessee, Knoxville, A Phenomenological Study of 12th Unnamed Cave, a Dark-Zone Cave Art Site, through 3D Photogrammetric Modeling and Archaeoacoustics
- Lia Kitteringham (runner up), Colorado State University, Birds, Enclosures, and Indigenous Landscapes: Creating the Eastern Precinct of Pinson Mounds
2022
- Patrick Druggan (1st place), Pennsylvania State University, New Estimates of the Timing and Tempo of Population Change at Cahokia
- Mikayla Absher (runner up), Tulane University, Experiencing Poverty Point: Intersections of Land, Water, and Sky
2021
- C. Trevor Duke (1st place), University of Florida, Tempered Subjects: Ritual Potting as Efficacious Action in Pre-Columbian Tampa Bay
- Seth Grooms (runner up), Washington University, St. Louis, Building Chronologies and Discovering History at the Jaketown Site, a Poverty Point-affiliated Mound Site in West-central Mississippi
2019
- Robert Barlow (1st place), University of Wyoming, Paleoindian and Early Archaic Response to the Younger Dryas in North Alabama: An Analysis of Variability in Resharpening of Hafted Bifaces
- Seth Grooms (runner up), Washington University, St. Louis, Mound Building at the Jaketown Site: Sacred Ballast on a Volatile Landscape
2018
- Brandon T. Ritchison (1st place), University of Georgia, The Downstream Effects of Abandonment: Settlement and Organization at the Kenan Field Site
- Jeffrey Alvey (runner up), University of Missouri, Columbia, Exploring the Relationship between Maize Agriculture and Population Growth in the Central and Lower Mississippi River Valley
2017
- Diana Simpson (1st place), The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Synthesizing Care and Violence during the Archaic Period in North Alabama
- Shawn Lambert (runner up), University of Oklahoma, A Provenance and Stylistic Study of Formative Caddo Vessels: Implications for Specialized Ritual Craft Production and Long-Distance Exchange
2016
- Mallory A. Melton (1st place), University of California – Santa Barbara, A Precautionary Tale: European Encounters, Uncertainty, and Food Security in the Seventeenth-Century North Carolina Piedmont
- Rachel V. Briggs (runner up), University of Alabama, Communities of Practice of the Hominy Foodway during Early Moundville
2015
- Jacob Lulewicz (1st place), University of Georgia, A Bayesian Radiocarbon Chronology for Northwestern Georgia, A.D. 700-1400
- Brandon T. Ritchison (runner up), University of Georgia, Evaluating Population Movement using State Site File Data: Understanding the Irene Phase Transition on the Georgia Coast
2014
- Meghan E. Buchanan (1st place), Indiana University, Bloomington, Making Pots, Making War: Mississippian Plate Iconography in the Midcontinent
- John R. Samuelsen (runner up), University of Arkansas, A Reanalysis of Strontium Isotopes from the Crenshaw Site: Implications on Caddo Interregional Warfare
2013
- Megan Kassabaum (1st place), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, First, We Eat: Conceptualizing Feasting at Feltus
- Zackary I. Gilmore (runner up), University of Florida, Pottery's Place in the Gathering Histories of Florida's Late Archaic Monuments
2012
- Dana Bardolph (1st place), University of California, Santa Barbara, Culinary Encounters and Cahokian Contact: Food Preparation, Serving, and Storage in the Central Illinois River Valley
- Alice Wright (runner up), University of Michigan, From Mountains to Mounds: Assessing the Routes of Middle Woodland Mica Transport
2011
- Erik S. Porth (1st place), University of Alabama, Raised Ground, Razed Structure: Ceramic Chronology, Occupation, and Chiefly Authority on Mound P at Moundville
- Erin Phillips (runner up), University of Alabama, Moundville Shell Gorgets
2010
- Logan Kistler (1st place), Penn State University, Ancient DNA Confirms a Local Origin of Domesticated Chenopod in Eastern North America
- Lauren McMillan (runner up), University of Tennessee, Put This in Your Pipe and Smoke it: An Evaluation of Pipe Stem Dating Methods
2009
- Lee Arco (1st place), Washington University, St. Louis, Geoarchaeology of the Buried Poverty Point Landscape at Jaketown
- John Samuelsen (runner up), University of Arkansas, Archaeogeophysical Investigations of Early Caddo Settlement Patterning at the Crenshaw Site (3MI6)
2008
- Jeremy Davis (1st place), University of Alabama, Crafting in the Countryside: A Comparison of Three Late Prehistoric Nonmound Sites in the Black Warrior River Valley
- Chris Moore (runner up), University of Kentucky, A Macroscopic Investigation of Technological Style and the Production of Middle to Late Archaic Fishhooks at the Chiggerville, Read, and Baker Sites, Western Kentucky
2007
- Glenn Strickland (1st place), University of Mississippi, The Archaeological Unifying Constant: Interpretations of a Late Mississippian Mound Group through Digital Spatial Modeling
- Clete Rooney (runner up),University of Florida, Beyond Kingsley: Reconcepualizing the Archaeology and Anthropology of Fort George Island, Florida
2006
- Mary Beth Fitts (1st place), University of North Carolina, St. Louis, People of the River, People of the Trail: Mapping Catawba Coalesence
- Adam Schieffer (runner up), University of South Florida, What's Cookin'? European Influence on Cherokee Subsistence at Coweeta Creek during the Qualla Phase (A.D. 1300-1908)
2005
- Lance Greene, University of North Carolina, Race, Class, and Material Culture in Antebellum North Carolina
2004
- Victor Thompson, University of Kentucky, The Formation and Function of Shell Rings: A Case Study from Sapelo Island
2003
- John Marcoux, University of North Carolina, The Materialization of Status and Social Structure at the Kogers Island Cemetery, Alabama
2002
- Jennifer Myer, University of Alabama, Among the fields: Mississippian settlement patterns in the Black Warrior Valley
2001
- Ashley Dumas, University of Alabama, Plotting the Past: A Study in Archaeological Method at the Original Tabasco Factory, Avery Island, Louisiana
2000
- Greg Wilson, University of North Carolina, Small Celt, Big Celt, Old Celt, New Celt: The Moundville Greenstone Industry in the Black Warrior Valley, Alabama
1999
- Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman, University of Georgia, Vertebrate Subsistence in the Mississippian-Historic Period Transition
1998
- Keith Little, University of Alabama, The Emergence of Etowah: A Prehistoric Polity which Occupied Portions of the Valley and Ridge and Piedmont in Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama
1997
- Amber VanDerwarker, University of North Carolina, Feasting and the Formulation of Food Use at the Toqua Site
1996
- Jason McBrayer, Tulane University, Elite Polygyny in Southeastern Chiefdoms
1995
- Sissel Schroeder, Pennsylvania State University, Ancient Landscapes and Sociopolitical Change in the Southern American Bottom, Illinois
1994
- Mary Beth Trubitt, Northwestern University, The Formation of House Floor and Fill Assemblages in the Mississippian American Bottom, Illinois
1993
- Patrick Jones, Tulane University, Lake of the Taensa: A Report on a Recent Survey of Lake St Joseph, Louisiana
1992
- Amy Lambeck Young, University of Tennessee, An Analysis of Nails from the Gibbs House Site