“We are honoured to receive this award. Created to address the short-term needs of students and scholars affected by disaster, our MENA writing solidarity group quickly evolved into a cross-national space of mutual support and collective empowerment against the backdrop of global crises, political uncertainties, and the enduring pressures of academic life. Because our members often try to navigate and adapt to different institutional contexts (in some cases without the resources available to scholars from elite institutions), the multiple writing sessions per week serve as an additional resource where they can develop specific strategies to further their research and studies. Over the course of three and half years, participants have continued to bring with them diverse positionalities, experiences, and political sensibilities, therefore enabling our conversations about writing to cut across disciplinary and national boundaries, and inevitably open onto what it means to write about the region while being implicated in its ongoing crises.

We are delighted to report that since our group’s nomination, the number of successful doctoral defenses has risen from 17 to 26. We have also welcomed nearly 30 new first-time participants and have added an online networking platform to help participants connect with those working on similar topics, find participants for peer review, and promote their work. All this is to say that we are extremely grateful to APSA, PSA, and the prize committee, and that we are committed to continuing to sustain this transnational solidarity project to support current and future participants.”