Have you written an excellent index for a particularly challenging text? Then consider submitting it for the 2020 ASI Award for Excellence in Indexing. Nominations for the award are welcome from indexers or publishers and will be accepted from December 1, 2019 to February 15, 2020.
Sheila Ryan (pictured with her publisher) was the winner of ASI’s 2019 Excellence in Indexing Award for her index to Churchill Documents, Vol. 21, part of a multivolume set by Martin Gilbert that relates to Winston Churchill.
This prestigious award was established as the ASI/H.W. Wilson Award in 1978 to honor excellence in indexing of an English language monograph or other non-serial print work published in the United States in the previous year. In 2017, the award was renamed as the ASI Excellence in Indexing Award. Its purpose is two-fold: for indexers, to provide and publicize models of excellence in indexing; for publishers, to encourage greater recognition of the importance of quality in book indexing.
For the 2020 competition, books with a 2019 copyright date, or those with a 2020 copyright date in distribution prior to December 31, 2019, are eligible (proof of distribution date is required).
The judging committee is especially interested in seeing books that presented a challenge to the indexer. Scholarly as well as technical volumes and books on unusual or difficult topics often pose such issues. Trade and other types of books are also welcomed. The committee will be looking at how effectively and creatively the indexer has addressed challenges and maintained high standards of index quality and how well the publisher has typeset the index.
Judges’ Review
As an added benefit, all indexers who submit an index will be provided with a summary report of the judges’ review of their index.
Judging criteria, information on the judging process, FAQs, as well as submission guidelines and form are all available here.
The 2020 award will be presented at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Indexing, April 23–25, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
If you have specific questions about the eligibility of an index for the award, please email the Registrar.
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