Prestigious Prize for Contemporary Women’s Writing

At the Modern Languages Association Conference in Philadelphia in December 2009, the Oxford University Press journal, Contemporary Women’s Writing (http://cww.oxfordjournals.org/), was awarded the prestigious CELJ (Council for Editors of Learned Journals) Prize for the Best New Journal. The prize was collected by Susan Stanford- Friedman (University of Wisconsin Madison) who is co-editor of the journal.

The judges were unanimous in their voting and enthusiastic in their praise:

‘From the production values—what a beautiful journal!—to the diversity of articles and the international scope of its editorial board, it’s obvious that the journal is edited and presented with care and high standards.’
‘I find that the editors live up to their claim that the journal is a space where contemporary women’s writing can be “explored, challenged, extended, and defined” (Vol.1, p. 1), as the range of articles, from analysis to global inquiry to reflection is wonderfully and professionally presented.’
‘The sophistication of and wide-ranging, interdisciplinary scholarship in many of the individual articles in Contemporary Women’s Writing is impressive.’
‘This journal has the ability to attract strong contributors from many places and cultures, and not just in the Western world. It alludes to the “richness” of contemporary women’s writing and the writing it publishes exemplifies this richness. The range and heft of what it publishes and the diversity of its contributors suggests that it will indeed have an important impact on scholarly discussions in a number of fields.’

Mary Eagleton, founding editor of Contemporary Women’s Writing, comments: ‘This is a wonderful accolade. In a highly competitive and pressurised field, Contemporary Women’s Writing has been recognised for its academic quality and international reach. The award is testament to the energetic and committed work by colleagues across the world and, particularly, by members of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Network who have been centrally involved from the start.’