The Executive Committee of the Sixteenth Century Society is pleased to invite nominations for TWO Natalie Zemon Davis Prizes in the field of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the Early Modern Era (1450-1750). Natalie Zemon Davis (1928–2023) was the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, Emerita at Princeton University. Before Princeton, she taught at Brown University, the University of Toronto, and the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Davis developed innovative interdisciplinary methodologies, introducing early modern historians to anthropological methods, ethnography, cultural theory, and other approaches. She made use of a huge variety of sources, particularly to explore the lives of ordinary people, including women, from her earliest essays to her last works. She was also one of the first to argue that men should be studied as men, thus advocating analysis of gender before that word was first applied to historical studies.

The prizes honor Professor Davis’s stature in the field, and her long involvement with the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, which began with her delivery of the plenary lecture at the first Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, and her membership on the first council. Her involvement stretched over half a century.

Two Natalie Zemon Davis Prizes will be awarded each year, recognizing the best monographs published in English in the preceding year in the field of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the Early Modern Era (1450-1750). Anthologies and collections of essays are not eligible. The first prize is awarded for an author’s first sole-authored book (the author may have previously edited a book). The second prize is awarded for any book beyond an author’s first book. Each winning book is selected by a committee of three Society members, based on the following criteria: 

• quality and originality of research 
• methodological skill and/or innovation 
• development of fresh and stimulating interpretations or insights 
• literary quality

Authors may self-nominate, and publishers are encouraged to submit nominations. Nominations (specifying for which of the two prizes the nomination is being made) should be sent to Victoria Christman at director@sixteenthcentury.org. The director will send contact and mailing information for the three committee members, and a copy of the nominated book must be sent to each member of the committee no later than April 1.

NB: Both Davis committees request hard copies for review. 

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The inaugural Davis first book prize was awarded to: 
Cesar D. Favila, Immaculate Sounds: The Musical Lives of Nuns in New Spain. Oxford University Press

The inaugural Davis subsequent book prize was awarded to:
Kathy Stuart, Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany: Crime, Sin and Salvation. Palgrave Macmillan