History of Tortuga Award
The Tortuga Award originated in 2004 when Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) recognized the need to formally acknowledge the tremendous professional accomplishments and contributions of its members. Annually, this award is given to a MALCS member who has used her expertise, experience and commitment to support and advance the MALCS mission. The Tortuga Award is a token of appreciation for scholars and administrators have made a difference in their respective academic and administrative fields, cleared the educational path for many women of color and gender non-conforming peoples, and whose work established and enhanced MALCS.
Past recipients include:
2013 Norma E. Cantú
2012 Gloria Cuadraz
2011: Lupe Gallegos-Diaz
2010: No award presented
2009: Karen Mary Davalos
2008: Rusty Barcelo
2007 Brenda Child
2006: Inés Talamantez
2005 Norma Alarcón
2004 Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell & Elisa L. Facio [inaugural recipients}
Annually, there are two awards that are presented at our annual MALCS Institute. The first award acknowledging the work of a local person is nominated and determined by the Summer Institute Site Committee. The Site Committee determines the criterion for nomination. The second award acknowledges the work of a MALCS member and is determined by the Executive Committee.
Nominations for MALCS Tortuga Award
Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) invites nominations for the 2014 Tortuga Award. The award recognizes the achievements, and contributions of members of MALCS. To ensure the special quality of the award, the nominee must be a member of MALCS. Nominations can only come from MALCS members. The nomination must be limited to the nominee’s CV, a two-page letter of nomination describing how the candidate meets the criterion, and two additional letters of support written by other MALCS members.
To be considered for the Tortuga Award, nominating letters should speak to these criteria:
1. A commitment to interdisciplinary Chicana, Latina, Afro-Latina, Native American and Indigenous feminist scholarship, cultural productions, and activism (belief in the scholar-activist model).
2. A member’s history of involvement and significant contribution to the MALCS organization.
The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, July 1, 2014.
Please submit an electronic nomination packet (CV, nomination letter, and two letters of support) to Jessica Lopez Lyman, MALCS Recording Secretary, at jessica@malcs.org.