The Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”) annual award will be presented at the OHA 2013 Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The award honors individuals or organizations who have accomplished outstanding achievement in using oral history to create a more humane and just world. Nominees may include those who use oral history as a means of furthering social justice as well as those collecting oral histories of social justice advocates.

The award is named in honor of Stetson Kennedy, a pioneer oral historian whose work has been an important tool for advocacy on behalf of human rights.  His work has also had a significant, continuing impact on the oral history movement itself.

The Vox Populi Award was created to recognize work that has made this kind of difference in the world, while advancing our sense of the power of oral history in the process. The award is co-sponsored by The Stetson Kennedy Foundation (http://www.stetsonkennedy.com),  a non-profit foundation dedicated to human rights, racial and social justice, environmental stewardship, and the preservation and growth of folk culture.

The 2013 Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi Award Committee consists of:
Suzanne Snider (chair)
Rhonda Y. Williams
Amy Starecheski

The Committee invites nominations, which should be in the form of a two-three page nominating statement describing the nominee’s accomplishments and the rationale for the nomination.  Self-nominations are welcome. Supporting materials such as collection descriptions, transcripts, audio and video interviews, publications, media productions, websites, news accounts, supporting letters, etc. can be included. For non-digital items, please be sure to send one copy for each committee member to review.

The nominating letter and any supporting text documentation should be sent in electronic form as file attachments. Nominations must be emailed, attention Vox Populi Award Committee, to: oha@gsu.edu.  If you wish to send non-electronic supplemental information, please contact Gayle Knight at oha@gsu.edu for the addresses of each committee member. The deadline has been extended to April 30, 2013; all materials must be received by April 30 for full consideration.