Busa and Fortier Awards

Roberto Busa Prize

The Busa Prize is named in honor of Father Roberto Busa SJ, universally acknowledged to be the first pioneer in the application of computational methods to humanistic research. The award is given to recognise outstanding lifetime achievement in this area of scholarly activity.  The Prize is awarded every three years by the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations (ADHO). 

It is next to be awarded at the DH2010 conference at King's College London, to Emeritus Professor Joe Raben, who will give a plenary address to the Conference on Thursday 8th July.  

The ADHO citation reads as follows:

The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations takes great pleasure in giving the ROBERTO BUSA AWARD for 2010 to Professor Joseph Raben for his exceptional contributions to humanities computing.

 Professor Raben is a pioneer; not only an early practitioner of digital methods in the study of literature but the first to turn his attention to building the profession. In 1966 he founded the first journal in the field, Computers and the Humanities, and remained its editor until 1986. He was the founding President of the international Association for Computers and the Humanities in 1978. From the beginning he had the wisdom to see that computing in all the disciplines of the humanities was a field with its own characteristics and dynamics. By organizing a long series of conferences in all parts of the United States and in several foreign countries, he brought scholars from all over the world together to share his unifying vision of our many diverse activities.

We give this award to Professor Raben for his lifetime achievement, as a humanities scholar and founder of so much of importance to our community. 

** Citation ends **

 Paul Fortier Prize

The Fortier Prize is named for Paul Fortier (1939-2005), late University Distinguished Professor of French at the University of Manitoba, Canada. It honors his long, active career in Humanities Computing and particularly remembers his kind encouragement and support for fledgling scholars in the field. The Prize is given for the best young scholar paper of each annual conference. Candidate papers are identified by a Fortier Awards Panel appointed by the ADHO Awards Committee and reviewed by experienced conference participants based on conference presentation.

The DH2010 Conference will be the first at which a Fortier Prize is awarded.  The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the conference. The prize winner will receive a cash award of 500 GBP.  

There is no application procedure for this award.  Full details of the award process may be found on the ADHO website (at www.digitalhumanities.org).