The Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book: Sean Farrell, Rituals and Riots: Sectarian Violence and Political
Culture in Ulster, 1784-1886. The prize committee states that "Professor Farrell's book demonstrates how plebian attitudes
rather than political or religious elites dictated the direction of events during the period. His close analysis of the particular
circumstances leading to the recurring disturbances exposes the limitations of the stereotypical images of the Irish Catholic as
an untrustworthy rebel and the Ulster Protestant as a foreign oppressor. By focusing on the links between public ritual,
sectarian violence, and politics, he offers a vigorous reinterpretation of ninetheenth-century sectarianism. The study
illuminates the continuing conflict in Northern Ireland."

The Robert Rhodes Prize for Books on Literature: Declan Kiberd, Irish Classics. The prize committee writes "Irish
literature, [Kiberd] argues, has since the flight of the earls repeatedly found strategies for comprehending the disruptions of
modenity. Torn between the claims of the Irish past, the stress of anglicization at home, and encounters in exile that offered
different perspectives on both, writers from the filí to Flann O'Brien, from O'Bruadair to Beckett have found formal
strategies for representating personal and national dislocations. In 700 pages of lucid prose that is, on every page, a pleasure
to read, Kiberd in this book uses his grounding in Irish-language literature to illuminate not only the broad outlines of the
history that he is perhaps uniquely qualified to retrace from the hybrid literary perspectives of two languages but also any
number of individual literary lives and texts. It is a pathbreaking work that does similar service to theorists from Marx to
Benjamin, breathing life into these and other methodological sources. Irish Classics demonstrates once again the inimitable
intellect of one of Ireland's most resourcetul, self-renewing scholars of literature and culture."

The James S. Donnelly, Sr., Prize for Books on History and Social Sciences: Angela Bourke, The Burning of Bridget Cleary.
The prize committee writes: "In the distinguished traditon of historians like Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor Bourke has
focused on a single, small incident to illumine a vast historical landscape. Bourke tells the story of the killing of Bridget
Cleary in 1895 by relatives who suspected her of being a fairy double. In the analysis of this tragedy, puolic reaction to it,
and the trials that followed, Bourke's analysis opens up new perspectives on subjects as diverse as British attitudes towards
Irish Home Rule, gender and class relations in rural Ireland and the study of fairy belief in the Celtic Revival. Thoroughly
researched, brightly written, but best of all, brilliantly imagined, Bourke's book is a superb contribution to the scholarship of
Irish Studies and a deserving candidate for the James Donnelly prize."

The Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language or Culture: Eamonn Wall, From the Sin-E Café to the Black Hills, and
Tony Crowley, The Politics of Language in Ireland, l366-l922. The prize committee writes: "Eamonn Wall's From the Sin-E
Café to the Black Hills is a fascinating and formally innovative book, rich with insights into the cultural productions of a new
generation or ‘wave’ of Irish immigrants to America. It is a pleasure to read and provides a real education for those of us
geographically removed from this important cultural work. Tony Crowley's Politics of Language in Ireland, l366-l922
delivers what its subtitle promises: a deep ‘sourcebook’ of the relationships between the English and Irish languages. The
politics of a historical period is illuminated in new ways by such attention to language, and in this book Crowley makes an
invaluable contribution to Irish Studies."

The Adele Dalsimer Prize for Distinguished Dissertations: Ben Novick, Oxford University, Ireland's Revolutionary War?:
Nationalist Constructions of Irish Identity. The prize committee states that the dissertation "breaks new ground by considering
World War I not as merely background, but as a critical event shaping the formation of modern Irish nationalism. By treating
advanced nationalist publicity as a propaganda initiative in the context of widespread British war propaganda, Novick
provides a nuanced and revealing analysis which will contribute significantly to our understanding of twentieth-century Irish
life and culture. The selection committee is unanimous in its choice of Ireland's:Revolutionary War? as the first winner of
this prize in memory of the late Adele Dalsimer."