Every year, Ab Imperio Quarterly announces call for the annual Ab Imperio Award for the best study in new imperial history and history of diversity in Northern Eurasia, up to the late twentieth century, published that year.

Award Qualifications and Scoring Criteria: 

The award envisions three categories:

1.     Best book.

2.     Best article in a peer-reviewed academic journal or chapter in a scholarly collection.

3.     Best dissertation chapter.   

The award is given for the novelty of the research question, command of modern international secondary literatures, introduction of new primary sources, and innovative interpretation of primary sources.

Participation Eligibility:

Any qualified publication that appeared in print or was accepted for publication during the year OR a chapter of the dissertation finished by the end of the year can be nominated for the award. Articles appeared in pay-to-publish journals are not eligible for nomination in the category of best article or book chapter. 

Nomination Procedure:

Individual scholars, academic associations, publishing houses, and editorial boards of academic journals may nominate any qualified publication for the award. Self-nomination by authors is also possible. A nomination, along with a brief statement explaining how it meets the four criteria mentioned earlier, should be sent via email to award@abimperio.net, from November 1 to December 31, 2025.

Nominations should be accompanied by full texts in electronic form. Nominations for the best dissertation chapter should include one chapter, intro, and the dissertation’s table of content. If necessary, hardcopies can be sent to the address for books for review.

 Selection Process:

The nominations go through the preliminary selection to identify the studies that fit the conditions of the award best in terms of their format and thematic focus. These texts are sent to invited reviewers – experts in their respective topics for score voting. Each text is assessed on a 10 point scale, in four categories: 

• • novelty of the research question; 

  • innovative interpretation of primary sources and original analysis;

  • command of modern international secondary literatures; 

  • introduction of new primary sources.

The international committee of experts that includes members of Ab Imperio’s Editorial Board and the editorial team identify the award winners in three categories. 

 The Award:

The award winners to be announced after April 1, 2026. 

The annual Ab Imperio Award for the best book is $1,500; the annual Ab Imperio Award for the best article or book chapter is $1,000; the annual Ab Imperio Award for the best dissertation chapter is $500. In addition, the winners in the first two categories are invited to deliver Ab Imperio Award public lectures at the University of Illinois at Chicago during the fall of 2026. The editors of Ab Imperio will work closely with the winner of the award for the best dissertation chapter on reworking the chapter into an article to be considered for publication in AI.

The award is sponsored by the independent international nonprofit nongovernmental educational organization KRES Poliskola (New York and Riga).