GEMELA Awards 2026
GEMELA seeks nominations for awards for scholarly work on women and gender in Spain and the Americas in the early modern period (pre-1800) period (pre-1800) published/in print between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025.Under contract or accepted but yet to be published manuscripts or galleys are not eligible for submission. All submissions must be in print by December 31, 2025.
The deadline for NOMINATIONS is May 1, 2026. Please include in your nomination packet complete contact and bibliographical information. Individuals nominated by third parties will be contacted after the May 1, 2026 deadline. Members of GEMELA may self-nominate.
The deadline for SUBMISSIONS of electronic materials is May 15, 2026. Participants will be required to be current members of GEMELA. *For edited volumes submitted for the Collaborative Project Award, only the editor(s) need to be current members of GEMELA.
The awards will be announced to the membership in September 2026, and an awards ceremony will be held at GEMELA’s Biennial Symposium in Naperville, IL in October 2026. Award recipients will not be required to attend the awards ceremony in person. These awards do not include monetary compensation.
Awards Categories
- First-Book Award (scholarly monographs)
- Book Award (scholarly monographs; must not be a first book/scholarly monograph for the author)
- Essay or Article Award
- Collaborative Project Award (Edited Collections of Essays, etc.).
Note: Please note that essays that are part of nominated collaborative projects cannot be also nominated for the Essay or Article Award.
GEMELA Graduate Student Awards 2026
GEMELA has two awards to honor outstanding graduate student presentations at our biennial conference: the Kate Reagan Award and the Amy Williamsen Award. During the business meeting, we recognize recipients with a certificate and monetary prize. The upcoming biennial conference is scheduled to take place in Naperville, IL at North Central College from October 1-3, 2026. See call for papers here.
Evaluation criteria
Once the conference organizers have sent acceptance letters to all participants, the Second Vice-President will circulate a Call for Submissions among graduate student presenters. Interested candidates should submit their written presentations and CVs to the Second Vice-President before the conference. The Second Vice-President and Past President (or another appointed board member) will evaluate the presentations based on the following criteria.
- Relevance to the study of women in the Hispanic and Lusophone world before 1800
- Innovation and contribution to the field
- Quality and clarity of argument
- Engagement with primary and secondary sources
- Originality
- Style and rhetoric
*Please note that students should submit ONLY their 20-minute conference presentations. Article-length submissions will be disqualified or, depending upon the timeline, the judges may ask the authors to submit a more abbreviated version of their work.
Kate Regan Award
Kathleen “Kate” Regan, professor of Spanish at the University of Portland, is remembered as an innovative, engaged, and popular professor who joined the faculty in 1995. She conducted research in Sephardic culture in Medieval Spain, as well as gender and cross-dressing in the Spanishcomedia. Her work on digital humanities and digital film technology led Kate to complete two documentaries, TheSephardic Legacy of Segovia: Pentimento of the Past (2005) and Fiestaremos: Judy Frankel and the Sephardic Music Tradition (2008), and work on an unfinished film project on Don Quijote de la Mancha. Leading the department of Foreign Languages from 2007-2010, Kate also served as chair of the Collaborative in International Studies and Global Outreach (CISGO). Among her highest accomplishments, in 2000 Kate was honored as the Carnegie and CASE Foundation’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year, recognizing her indefatigable dedication to the teaching and mentoring of students. In 2012 Kate co-organized GEMELA’s bi-annual meeting in Portland, treating conference attendees to a wonderful event at the University of Portland campus.
Kate died unexpectedly on July 23, 2014. The members of GEMELA honor her memory and life-work with this award.
Amy Williamsen Award
As a founding member of GEMELA and innovator in the field of early modern women’s cultural production, Amy left a tangible legacy. Throughout her career, she powerfully advocated for the study of female writers, playwrights and characters in works from the so-called Spanish Golden Age. Her 1999 edited volume with Valerie Hegstrom Engendering the Early Modern Stage: Women Playwrights of the Spanish Empire was instrumental in drawing women into the scholarly canon. Amy also fostered an enduring attitude of collegiality, generosity and friendship. Indeed, she was an enthusiastic mentor to scholars at all stages of their careers and a staunch advocate of inclusiveness. In 2019, she received the UNC-Greensboro Dean’s Award for Diversity and Inclusiveness to recognize efforts in this area. As President of GEMELA from 2015-17, Amy organized a memorable GEMELA gathering in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Amy’s sudden death in April 2019 saddened GEMELA members and the broader scholarly community. Her lively spirit and passion live on in this award.