History of the Praxis Award: Recognizing Excellence in Practitioner Anthropology

WAPA established the Praxis Award for Excellence in the Practice of Anthropology to recognize the significant, often groundbreaking work performed in government and industry by the discipline’s practitioners in translating anthropological knowledge into action to address their clients’ problems. The award competition, open to all M.A. and Ph.D. level anthropologists, commenced in 1981, was repeated in 1982, and since then has continued on a biennial, odd-numbered year basis. The year 2011 marked the 30th anniversary and the 17th competition of the Praxis Award.  The list of Praxis Award recipients (PDF format) was originally researched and compiled by Amy Carattini and Charles Cheney in 2011. It has been updated biennially since then.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Praxis Award, WAPA organized a panel at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology.   A sample of past winners, judges and organizers discussed the award and the role it has played in supporting the work of applied anthropologists.  The meeting was held in Seattle March 29 - April 2, 2011.

Updated 01 February 2021