The Harper Wornom Committee, in consultation with the Program Directors for the 2024 Annual Meeting (Dori Baker and Wanda Stahl), proposes that this year’s award cycle for the Wornom Award be considered a “prototype” year, during which the focus would be on honoring three emerging scholars and practitioners that illuminate the Dear Earth theme.
Criteria
The Harper/Wornom Committee will use the following criteria to annually select one winning project or initiative (in addition to the general criteria for all conference proposals):
- The proposal suggests specific innovative, practical responses in religious education to the challenges climate change poses
- The applicant is a current student, an “emerging scholar,” or an active religious education practitioner
- The applicant has not yet published in the Religious Education journal
- The proposal centers the voices of those who are most directly affected by climate change
Guidelines
- On the proposal submission page, there will be a link to this guideline page explaining the process and criteria for this award. Once the applicant has read through this information they will go back to the proposal submission page and be able to check a box indicating that they wish to be considered for a Wornom Innovation Award. After applicants are accepted for their Research Interest Group or Collaborate session (workshop), their applications would be forwarded to the Harper/Wornom Committee to contact.
- There will be three (3) Wornom Innovation Award Recipients. Each recipient will receive $500, a one year- free membership to REA, and coaching sessions to help awardees develop their work into a peer-reviewed paper or another initiative.
- The $500 awards will be distributed following the conference after awardees complete the following requirements:
- Email confirmation to the Harper Wornom committee that they wish to be considered for the award
- Completion of a completed paper/outline/description (depending on whether or not they proposed an RIG or a Collaborative session) two weeks earlier than the general deadline on May 17, 2024, so that the Harper/Wornom Committee has time to review.
- After the final review process, finalists meet with Harper/Wornom Committee representatives before REA2024 to plan a combined, collaborative workshop (near the end of the conference) that will reflect on each other’s work and potential future directions for the field of religious education, in light of the Dear Earth theme
- Participating in their RIG or Collaboration group, followed by the collaborative Workshop with the other finalists
Past Recipients
2019: Dr. Elliott Ginsberg
2018: Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Schein
2017: Dr. Lakisha Lockhart and Callid Keefe-Perry
(More details of their projects are available on the past recipients page.)