With the generous support of the James P. Geiss & Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation, the Society for Ming Studies (SMS) has established two book prizes: Best First Book and Best Overall Book. These prizes recognize outstanding English-language monographs on Ming China (1368–1644) and its global connections.
A committee of senior Ming specialists from diverse disciplines evaluates eligible publications from recent years and generally awards one prize in each category every year or every other year. The prizes include a cash award and are presented at the SMS annual meetings, held in conjunction with the Association for Asian Studies annual conference.
Nomination Guidelines
Nominations for the 2026 cycle are now closed. Monographs in English published in 2025 or later will be eligible for future rounds. Nominations are welcome but books that have not been nominated may also be considered. Scholars, publishers, and authors may submit eligible titles. To nominate a book, please email the following information to Guojun Wang (guojun.wang at mcgill.ca), president of the SMS:
- Book title and author(s)
- Publisher and publication date
- Publisher contact information
- Brief author biography (institutional affiliation, title, research areas, etc.)
- Indication of whether the book is the author’s first monograph
For the 2027 cycle, nominations must be received by May 30, 2026.
2026 Prize Committee
- Anne Gerritsen (University of Warwick)
- Yuhang Li (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
- Keith McMahon (University of Kansas)
- David Robinson (Colgate University)
Past Awards
2025 Award
Best Overall Book
- Keith McMahon, Saying All That Can Be Said: The Art of Describing Sex in Jin Ping Mei (Harvard University Asia Center, 2023)
2024 Awards
Best First Book
- Yuhang Li, Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2020)
Best Overall Book
- Lynn Struve, The Dreaming Mind and the End of the Ming World (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019)
