07.16.26
$12,500 for an outstanding feminist
Even now, during a period of encouragingly robust progressive activism, it is rare to find a person who is both a deep and original thinker and an effective and generous political organizer.
One of those people was the great feminist writer, pedagogue, and organizer Ann Snitow, who died on August 10, 2019.
The Ann Snitow Prize honors an outstanding feminist who combines original intellectual or artistic work with effective social justice activism. The prize is in its seventh and penultimate year. The awardee, who is selected by a new jury each year, receives $12,500 to use as they please; several have shared the award with their comrades and organizations. You can find out about previous awardees and watch the talks they’ve given at the award ceremony here.
The deadline for nominations is August 1, 2026. To nominate, send a cover letter, the nominee’s CV, and two work samples as attachments to nominate@annsnitowprize.com. You can’t nominate yourself. FAQs are here.
If you’ve nominated someone for the ASP in the past, please resubmit the nomination; a bit of updating will help your candidate. If you have never done so, please do!
More about Ann:
Ann’s ability to organize feminist groups and mobilize their participation in direct action is legendary; hundreds of feminists loved and were profoundly influenced by her. She brought her skills and generosity to feminist activism on behalf of speech, sexual and gender liberation, and peace. Among the groups Ann founded or cofounded were New York Radical Feminists (1969); CARASA, the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (1977); the street theater group No More Nice Girls (1979); the Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce (1984); and the antiwar group Take Back the Future (2002).
In 1990, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Ann became deeply involved in organizing to embed feminism in Eastern European politics and institutions, helping to found and lead the Network of East-West Women (NEWW).
At the same time, Ann was a sui generis writer, teacher, and public intellectual. She was instrumental in founding the undergraduate Lang College at the New School and especially its Gender Studies program, where she taught from 1986 to 2019.
Among her many publications were the co-edited anthologiesPowers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality (1983) and The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women’s Liberation (1998). In 2015 Duke University Press brought out The Feminism of Uncertainty: A Gender Diary (2015), including essays Ann wrote for the Village Voice, The Nation, The Women’s Review of Books, Dissent, and other progressive and feminist publications. She finished her delightful book about NEWW, Visitors: An American Feminist in East Central Europe, the week before she died. It was published by New Village Press in 2020.