Winner: Sheriko, Nicole. “Ben Jonson’s Puppet Theater and Modeling Interpretive Practice.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 59, no. 2 (2019): 281–304.
The committee was deeply impressed by Sheriko’s navigation of puppet shows as a performed framework for criticism in seventeenth-century England, especially in the exploration of that framework as a type of language permeating broad class distinctions.
Honorable Mention: Rice, Nicole R. “The Feminine Prehistory of the York Purification: St. Leonard’s Hospital, Civic Drama, and Women’s Devotion.” Speculum 94, no. 3 (2019): 704–38.
We agree that Rice’s novel and necessary work is beneficial for both literary and performance historians of medieval theatre and is, more broadly, an excellent resource for many scholars of medieval studies.
Award Committee: Elizabeth E. Tavares, Kyle A. Thomas, and Emma Maggie Solberg (chair). Awards announcement and presentation took place during the MRDS business meeting in May, held online by way of Zoom due to the COVID19 global pandemic.