SCA Student Awards

Archaeology Month Student Grant In an ongoing effort to support archaeology students and their research, the Society for California Archaeology provides Student Grants each year. The Board offers a CASH PRIZE, awarded to students with the best proposal. Students will be asked to host via Zoom an hour long live virtual presentation on their current thesis or doctoral research. Follow this link to view the 2020 Student Presentation Series: Student Presentation Series. The event will be held in October and will consist of the Zoom presentation followed by a roundtable discussion between the student and a three-person panel of established professional archaeologists relevant to their research. To apply for the grant, students need to submit a brief recorded video that outlines their virtual presentation proposal, as well as a written list of four professional archaeologists who are familiar with the subject matter and would be good discussion panelists, with explanation of their relevant credentials (need not be thesis/dissertation committee members). For consideration, proposals must be received by October 8th. To submit your proposal or for further information contact the Incoming President.  Selected grant recipients will be announced on October 15th. DOWNLOAD THE FLYER VIEW PREVIOUS VIDEOS

The James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Student Award

Award to support original research on the prehistory of California and the Great Basin, with special consideration given to projects emphasizing analysis of existing museum collections, those housed in regional repositories and/or those reported in inventories and reports which focus on: 1) the development, significant refinement and/or modification of time-sensitive typologies or seriation studies useful in identifying prehistoric spatial or temporal units, or 2) relating primary data to revision of existing culture historical taxonomic frameworks.

SCA student members are invited to submit research proposals for the James A. Bennyhoff Memorial Award. The award is intended to support original student research on the prehistory of California and the Great Basin.

Projects may involve more than one subdiscipline of anthropology and may have objectives beyond those of culture history; nonetheless, a significant portion of the study must involve direct work with artifacts or other primary source data (e.g., mission registers, historical/archival documents), and must show promise to enhance the scientific understanding of California and Great Basin prehistory. Research projects may involve preparation of a thesis, dissertation, or a formal refereed publication.

Funding from the award (up to $2,000) may be used by the recipient for any purpose directly related to the study; e.g., travel for the purpose of studying collections, photography, illustrations, graphics, radiocarbon studies, or obsidian analyses. Additional support is available to conduct up to 100 obsidian hydration readings (courtesy of Origer’s Obsidian Laboratory), up to 50 obsidian source analyses (courtesy of Richard Hughes at Geochemical Research Laboratory)and up to four AMS dates courtesy of the CAMS facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

View the Bennyhoff Webpage

The Charles E. Rozaire Award for Student Research in California Archaeology

The award supports undergraduate or graduate student research in California archaeology that includes a significant fieldwork or collections component. Funding from the award is intended to help pay for the various costs associated with fieldwork or analyzing an existing curated collection and/or for preparing the materials for long-term curation. The award is to promote original research on the history or prehistory of California.

ALLOWABLE EXPENSES

Funding from the award (up to $2,000) may be used for fieldwork or collections expenses directly related to the study. These include travel to and from the field or museum; lodging, camping, and food to support a field crew; data collection; and/or the purchase or maintenance of minor field equipment (i.e., items under $300 such as shovels and screens). Expenses may also include initial stages of laboratory analysis associated with preparing the collection for further study and curation (e.g., illustrations or casting of artifacts, assistance with artifact or ecofact identification, purchase of curation supplies such as boxes or bags). Expenses not allowed include salary or stipends to field participants, tuition, or purchase of equipment over $300.

View the Rozaire Award Webpage

Outstanding Student Paper and Poster Presented at the Annual Meeting

Win $250 cash and a banquet ticket! Two awards will be given each year, one for Outstanding Paper and one for Outstanding Poster.

Giving a paper or poster at the SCAs? Don’t miss the opportunity to win money, prestige, a banquet ticket, and more! Submit your paper or poster by January 15th, to the SCA Student Paper Competition. Papers should be submitted as e-mail attachments to the SCA Business Office at office@scahome.org.  Please indicate “Student Paper Competition” in the e-mail subject line. Also please include the name of a faculty advisor in the email. Poster submissions should include all relevant files in full layout.

Paper and Poster Guidelines