Linguistics Journalism Award

About the award

This award honors a journalist whose work best represents linguistics during the 12-month consideration for the award. The award is based on a single news story or body of work that promotes language and/or linguistics, is accurate and timely, and is appealing and accessible to non-specialist audiences.

If you would like to recognize the works of linguists or other groups or individuals who have brought language and linguistics into the public sphere, a nomination for the LSA Linguistics, Language, and the Public Award may be more appropriate.

The award is given every year, as nominations warrant.

The nomination period opens on February 18, 2025, and closes at 11:59 PM (ET) on June 30, 2025.

Eligibility

  • Nominations may be submitted by any individual or entity that wishes to do so, including members of the award selection committee.
  • Nominations are particularly encouraged from LSA members, news organizations, journalists, and public relations professionals.
  • The news story or body of work must have been presented/published during the time period specified above.
  • Works nominated for the award this year must have appeared between June 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025.

Nomination materials

In the nomination form, you will need to address all the areas listed below. For each area, please provide the requested information or explain why it does not apply to your nomination. Keep in mind that failing to address any of the areas may negatively affect your nomination.
  1. The significance of the news story or body of work that is the basis for your nomination
  2. The appeal and accessibility of the work to non-specialist audiences, along with materials supporting your nomination, which include copies of the work or links to the work for which the person is being nominated
  3. A brief citation that will be read at the presentation of the Award

Selection

Nominations are reviewed by a committee consisting of 2-3 members of the LSA Public Relations Committee (PRC) and the Executive Committee liaison to the PRC. This committee makes recommendations to the Executive Committee, which must formally approve the recommendations. The winner will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony at the next LSA Annual Meeting in January.

Awardees

2025

Madeleine Schwartz for "Can You Lose Your Native Tongue?" (New York Times, May 14, 2024).

2024

Elizabeth Weil for "You Are Not a Parrot. And a Chatbot is Not a Human" (New York Times, March 1, 2023)

2023

Andrew Leland for "DeafBlind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch" (The New Yorker, May 12, 2022)

2022

Allyson Waller for "Black, Deaf, and Extremely Online" (New York Times January 23, 2021).

2020

Thomas Curwen for "Column One: Tongva, Los Angeles' First Language, Opens the Door to a Forgotten Time and Place" (Los Angeles Times May 9, 2019).

2019

Patrick Cox for "The World in Words" podcast (Public Radio International).

2018

Lane Greene for the twice-a-month column "Johnson" (The Economist).

2016

Arika Okrent for "Mental Floss".

2015

Ben Zimmer for the body work represented by his contributions as the Wall Street Journal's columnist and his articles on linguistics in The Atlantic, the Boston Globe, Slate's Lexicon Valley blog and many other popular publications.