The Keimyung Silk Road Award is designed to honor and acknowledge authors who have made significant contributions to the field of Silk Road Studies. Every year, a highly respected interdisciplinary selection committee, comprising distinguished scholars in this field, undertakes a thorough evaluation of the scholarly works submitted for consideration. We prioritize maintaining the highest standards of impartiality and are dedicated to fostering a rigorous and unbiased evaluation process. To ensure fairness, we keep the identities of the esteemed committee members confidential until the announcement of the award-winning books.
Competition Rules and Procedures
• To be eligible for the award, books must be rigorous scholarly monographs that represent
original research. They should be published in English or Korean in 2022 or 2023.
• Each year, the Keimyung Silk Road Award recognizes 2 outstanding books,
one in the humanities, and one in the social sciences. The selected works exemplify
excellence and innovation in their respective fields.
• In addition to original works, scholarly monographs that are translations of ancient
materials related to the Silk Road written in rare classical languages are also eligible.
These translations must be in English or Korean.
• Edited volumes, new editions of previously published books, bibliographies,
dictionaries, and textbooks are not eligible.
• Nominations for the award may be submitted by publishers, academic organizations, the
authors themselves, or scholars actively engaged in Silk Road studies.
• To initiate the nomination process, we kindly request that you send an email with the
subject line "KEIMYUNG SILK ROAD AWARD".
• Please ensure to send us a review hard copy of the nominated book along with the
electronic version.
• Within the email, include recommendations from one or more experts. Alternatively, you
may provide published reviews of the book from scholarly journals as substitutes for
expert recommendations.
• The deadline for all submissions is Friday, August 18, 2023. (Please take into consideration
the time required for international delivery.)
Award Ceremony
• Each awardee will be honored with a cash prize of $2,000 and a distinguished medal of
excellence recognizing their notable contributions to Silk Road research.
• The announcement of the awardees will be made no later than November 2023. This will
ensure that the awardees have sufficient time to prepare for their participation in the
award ceremony.
• The grand award ceremony will be held at Keimyung University in Korea and will serve as
a prominent platform to celebrate the achievements of the awardees. Awardees will be
invited to attend the ceremony and will have the opportunity to give a special lecture
sharing their insights and expertise with the audience.
• It is important that awardees accept the invitation and be able to participate in the
ceremony on the date set by the university. To facilitate their participation, all necessary
travel expenses, including round-trip airfare and lodging for a three-day, two-night stay in
Korea, will be fully covered.
• The president of Keimyung University will present the awards to the winners, expressing
the university’s recognition and appreciation for their exceptional work. The governor of
Gyeongsangbuk-do (the province where Keimyung University is located) may become a
co-presenter.