The PROSE Awards (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) are presented by the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) Professional and Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division.^[1]

Presented since 1976, the awards annually recognize distinguished professional and scholarly books, reference works, journals, and electronic content. The awards are judged by peer publishers, academics, librarians, and medical professionals. Publishers and authors are honored at a luncheon ceremony at the PSP Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

In recent years, the PROSE Awards luncheon has featured a live webcast of the event, original short films and several multimedia presentations highlighting winners.

Awards by the numbers:^[2]

• Five “best of” awards chosen from 53 book, reference, journal and e-product categories;
• Forty-five book subject categories for traditional print, electronic publications and print/electronic packages; and
• Six awards for electronic products, including electronic platforms and e-products with multiple components.

Book subject categories:

• Humanities
  • Archeology and Ancient History
  • Art Exhibitions
  • Art History and Criticism
  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Classics
  • European and World History
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Literature
  • Media and Cultural Studies
  • Music and the Performing Arts
  • Outstanding Scholarly Work by a Trade Publisher
  • Philosophy
  • Textbook/Humanities
  • Theology and Religious Studies
  • U.S. History
• Biological and Life Sciences
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedicine and Neuroscience
  • Clinical Medicine
  • Nursing and Allied Health Sciences
  • Textbook/Biological and Life Sciences
• Social Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Architecture and Urban Planning
  • Business, Finance and Management
  • Economics
  • Education Practice
  • Education Theory
  • Government and Politics
  • Law and Legal Studies
  • Psychology
  • Sociology and Social Work
  • Textbook/Social Sciences
• Physical Sciences & Mathematics
  • Chemistry and Physics
  • Computing and Information Sciences
  • Cosmology and Astronomy
  • Earth Science
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Environmental Science
  • History of Science, Medicine and Technology
  • Mathematics
  • Popular Science and Popular Mathematics
  • Textbook/Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Reference Works
  • Multivolume Reference/Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Multivolume Reference/Science
  • Single Volume Reference/ Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Single Volume Reference/Science

Electronic publication categories – For electronic products, including electronic platforms and e-products with multiple components. Electronic platforms and products are recognized in the following six categories:

• Best in Biological and Life Sciences
• Best in Humanities
• Best Multidiscipline Platform
• Best in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Best in Social Sciences
• Innovation in ePublishing (Discretionary)

Journals categories – For print and electronic journals.

• Best New Journal in Science, Technology and Medicine
• Best New Journal in Social Sciences and Humanities

The PROSE Awards for Excellence – Chosen from among the winners of the books, eproducts and journals categories. One winner is recognized in each of the following categories:

• Award for Excellence in Biology and Life Sciences
• Award for Excellence in Humanities
• Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Award for Excellence in Reference Works
• Award for Excellence in Social Sciences^[3]

The R. R. Hawkins Award has been presented to the most outstanding work among each year’s PROSE Awards entries since they began in 1976.