New & Noteworthy Item

From the press release:

A distinguished panel of judges selected prize winners in each category from a shortlist of five finalists. The authors of the winning titles will receive a cash award of $20,000, and the winning publishers will receive a grant of $30,000 to support the immediate open access publication of at least two new books. The prizes, among the largest for scholarly books, will be presented at The New York Public Library on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. The event includes a public panel discussion. Details can be found at the following link: https://events.leapevents.com/tickets/open-access-book-prize-2026/tag/acls.

“The 2026 ACLS Open Access Book Prize awardees exemplify innovative, impactful, and open humanistic scholarship that is accessible in multiple registers,” said Sarah McKee, ACLS Program Officer for Amplifying Humanistic Scholarship. “Beyond dropping the paywall, the authors and publishers of these six books offer clear prose that nonspecialist audiences can understand. They integrate technical affordances that meet a variety of reader needs, including multiple file formats, alt-text, video captioning, and screen reader compatibility. They combine high visibility with seamless navigation on publishing platforms, ensuring that students, policy makers, and interested communities around the world can discover and benefit from the research. ACLS is delighted to celebrate the accomplishments of these six honorees.”

A full list of awardees and finalist is available at the following link:  https://www.acls.org/2026-acls-open-access-book-prizes-and-arcadia-open-access-publishing-awards/.