Laura Shannon Prize

The Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies is a $10,000 book prize sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The Laura Shannon Prize is awarded annually to the author of the "best book in European studies that transcends a focus on any one country, state, or people to stimulate new ways of thinking about contemporary Europe as a whole." Contemporary is construed broadly, as the winning books demonstrate that even early modern books have done well in the process. The prize alternates between the humanities and history & social sciences. Winning authors accept the prize by offering a lecture at the University of Notre Dame. Nominations are typically due at the end of January every year. Books may be nominated by authors or publishers. Every year the final jury selects one book as the winner. The jury has the discretion whether or not to award honorable mentions.

Winners

The Nanovic Institute for European Studies has awarded the 2016 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies to Mark Thompson for his book, Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš, published by Cornell University Press. The 2016 jury commended the work, writing, "The biography is itself a formal tour de force, combining journal fragments, photographs, and interviews with Thompson’s own beautifully-written prose. Richly informative, Birth Certificate is a brilliant case for Kiš’s importance in cultural history."

• 2015 Winner of the History and Social Sciences Cycle for books published in 2011 and 2013: The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark (Harper).
• 2014 Winner of the Humanities Cycle for books published in 2011 and 2012: Modernity and Bourgeois Life: Society, Politics, and Culture in England, France, and Germany since 1750 by Jerrold Seigel (Cambridge University Press)
• 2013 Winner of the History and Social Sciences Cycle for books published in 2010 and 2011: Shattered Spaces: Encountering Jewish Ruins in Postwar Germany and Poland by Michael Meng (Harvard University Press)
• 2012 Winner of the Humanities Cycle for books published in 2009 and 2010: The Hebrew Republic: Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought by Eric M. Nelson (Harvard University Press)
• 2011 Winner of the History and Social Sciences cycle for books published in 2008 and 2009: Kidnapped Souls: National Indifference and the Battle for Children in the Bohemian Lands 1900-1948 by Tara Zahra (Cornell University Press)
• 2010 Winner of the Humanities cycle for books published in 2007 and 2008: Robert M. Dainotto's Europe (in Theory) (Duke University Press)

Honorable mentions

The jury does not award Honorable Mentions every year. Honorable Mentions have included the following books.

• 2014 Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition by Yasemin Yildiz (Fordham University Press)
• 2011 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe by Mary Elise Sarotte (Princeton University Press)
• 2010 Cultural Capitals: Early Modern London and Paris by Karen Newman (Princeton University Press)
• 2010 Cosmopolitical Claims: Turkish-German Literatures from Nadolny to Pamuk by Venkat Mani (University of Iowa Press)

Past jurors

Past final jurors have included international scholars holding a number of significant academic positions, including the following:

• Karl Ameriks, McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame, 2016 Prize
• Doris Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Toronto, 2015 Prize
• Archie Brown, Emeritus Professor of Politics, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 2015 Prize
• Anna Grzymala-Busse, Ronald and Eileen Weiser Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan, 2015 Prize
• John Van Engen, Andrew V. Tackes Professor of Medieval History, University of Notre Dame, 2015 Prize
• Russell Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, 2014 Prize
• Nancy Bermeo, Nuffield Professor of Comparative Politics, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, 2011 Prize
• Piero Boitani, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Rome, La Sapienza, 2010 Prize
• Theodore J. Cachey, Jr., Albert J. Ravarino Family Director of Dante and Italian Studies, Professor and Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Notre Dame, 2010 Prize
• Paolo Carozza, Professor of Law and Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, 2013 Prize
• Donald Crafton, Professor and Chair, Department of Film, Television & Theatre, University of Notre Dame, 2010 Prize
• Thomas Elsaesser, Professor of Film and Television Studies Emeritus, University of Amsterdam, 2014 Prize
• Caryl Emerson, A. Watson Armour III University Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University, 2012 Prize
• Laura Engelstein, Henry S. McNeil Professor of History, Yale University, 2011 Prize
• Felipe Fernández-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, 2011 Prize
• Margaret W. Ferguson, Professor of English, University of California, Davis, 2010 Prize
• Christopher B. Fox, Professor of English and Director of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame, 2010 Prize
• John E. Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale Divinity School, Yale University, 2016 Prize
• Jennifer Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School, 2014 Prize
• Peter Holland, McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies, University of Notre Dame, 2014 Prize
• Don Howard, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, University of Notre Dame, 2012 Prize
• Harold James, Claude and Lore Kelly Professor in European Studies and Director, Program in Contemporary European Politics and Society, Princeton University, 2013 Prize
• Jytte Klausen, Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation, Brandeis University, 2013 Prize
• Alasdair MacIntyre, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, University of Note Dame, 2014 Prize
• Suzanne L. Marchand, Professor of History, Louisiana State University, 2012 Prize
• Norman M. Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies and Director of the Division of International, Comparative, and Area Studies, Stanford University, 2013 Prize
• Thomas F. X. Noble, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, 2013 Prize
• Anne Lake Prescott, Senior Scholar and Emerita Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor of English, Barnard College, Columbia University, 2016 Prize
• Mark W. Roche, Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Professor of German Language and Literature, University of Notre Dame, 2012 Prize
• Ingrid Rowland, Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, 2016 Prize
• Roger Scruton, Senior Fellow, Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., 2016 Prize
• James Sheehan, Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, Stanford University, 2011 Prize
• Paul Woodruff, Professor of Philosophy and inaugural Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Prize
• Catherine H. Zuckert, Nancy Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, 2011 Prize
• Michael Zuckert, Nancy R. Dreux Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, 2015 Prize