AHCT 2025 Founders’ Prizes

The AHCT also annually awards the Hesse Graduate Student Travel Grant, which was established in honor of AHCT founder Everett Hesse to recognize outstanding scholarship by graduate students working on early-modern Hispanic theater and performance studies. We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2025 Hesse Graduate Student Travel Grant is Marissa Luquette (Rutgers University), for the essay “¿Quando volveras a verme? Speaking, Hearing, and Queering Female Desire in María Egual’s Coloquio entre Nise y Laura.”The AHCT is pleased to announce this call for nominations for the following prizes to be awarded in 2026. Nominations for all prizes are due by April 1, 2026.More information will be available at www.comedias.org.Please direct any questions to Rob Bayliss (rbayliss@ku.edu).The Vern Williamsen Comedia Book Prize is awarded every three years to the outstanding scholarly book published by a current member of the association during the previous three years. Monographs, edited volumes, critical editions, and anthologies related to the Comedia are eligible for the prize; monographs emphasizing the performance of Hispanic classical theater are especially encouraged. The prize, which consists of a certificate and recognition on the AHCT website and conference program, will be presented to the winning author at the association’s annual symposium. Books published between 2023 and 2025 are eligible for this award cycle.To enter a book into the competition, authors or publishers should send confirmation of the author’s membership in the AHCT and either (1) a digital copy or (2) three print copies to AHCT Vern Williamsen Comedia Book Prize, Attn: Rob Bayliss, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Kansas, 2650 Wescoe Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045. In the case of a born-digital publication, send the relevant media or URL and a letter identifying the work to rbayliss@ku.edu. Entries may be sent at any time but must be received by 1 April of 2026 to be considered for the current award cycle. Membership may be established at the time of submission.Publishers may enter more than one title, but no work may be entered in more than one AHCT competition. Shipping labels or enclosures should indicate the names of the prizes for which the books are competing. For further information, contact Rob Bayliss at rbayliss@ku.edu.The Donald Dietz Comedia Prize for Service to AHCT is awarded every three years to an individual who has made significant contributions to the furthering of AHCT’s mission. This prize, which is intended to encourage and recognize Hispanic classical theater performance advocacy and service to the association and consists of a certificate and recognition on the AHCT website and conference program, will be presented to the winner at the association’s annual symposium. Collaborative research projects published or disseminated between 2023 and 2025 are eligible for this award cycle.To nominate a deserving individual, send a letter of nomination to AHCT Donald Dietz Comedia Prize for Service, Attn: Rob Bayliss, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Kansas, 2650 Wescoe Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045. Entries may be sent at any time but must be received by 1 April of 2026 in order to be considered for the current award cycle. Membership may be established at the time of submission. For further information, contact Robert Bayliss at rbayliss@ku.edu.The Amy Williamsen Prize for Collaborative Comedia Research is awarded every three years to a major research project led by two or more AHCT members in keeping with the AHCT’s mission to promote research on Hispanic Classical Theater. The nature and format of nominations is flexible, in keeping with the inclusive and creative spirit that characterized Amy Williamsen’s scholarship, but preference will be given to larger research projects commensurate with an academic monograph, a co-edited volume of scholarship, or a major research grant. The prize, which consists of a certificate and recognition on the AHCT website and conference program, will be presented to the winning author at the association’s annual symposium. Collaborative research projects published between 2023 and 2025 are eligible for this award cycle.To enter a collaborative project into the competition, authors or publishers should send confirmation of at least one author’s membership in the AHCT and either (1) a digital copy or (2) three print copies to AHCT Amy Williamsen Prize, Attn: Rob Bayliss, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Kansas, 2650 Wescoe Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045. In the case of a born-digital publication, send the relevant media or URL and a letter identifying the work to rbayliss@ku.edu. Entries may be sent at any time but must be received by 1 April of 2026 to be considered for the current award cycle. Membership may be established at the time of submission.