Honors and Awards


ASIL Honors


2024-2025 ASIL Honors

The 2024–2025 ASIL Honors Committee (Natalie Morris-Sharma (chair), Olabisi Akinkugbe, Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, Jeremy Sharpe, and Frederic Sourgens) invites nominations (including self-nominations) for the following honors:

The Manley O. Hudson Medal

Awarded to a distinguished person of American or other nationality for outstanding contributions to scholarship and achievement in international law.

The Goler T. Butcher Medal

Awarded to a distinguished person of American or other nationality for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights.

The Honorary Member Award

Conferred on an individual of American or other nationality who has rendered distinguished contributions or service in the field of international law.

Honorees are selected by the Society's Executive Council on the recommendation of the Honors Committee, and the honors are presented each year at the Society's Annual Meeting. To view all past recipients, click here.

Nominations must be submitted online using the form below. The deadline for nominations is August 15, 2024. Please contact awardsandhonors@asil.org with any questions.

 
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ASIL Book Awards

Call for Book Award Nominations
The 2024–2025 Book Awards Committee (Victoria Sahani (Chair), Anna Spain Bradley, Ben Love, Blanca Montejo, Jarrod Wong, and Kabir Duggal) is now accepting nominations for the 2025 ASIL Book Awards.

Pursuant to the Regulation on the Book Awards Committee, and as stated in the Call for Nominations, the deadline for nominations is October 1, 2024. Publishers may nominate up to ten books for Certificates of Merit and up to three books for the Robert E. Dalton Award. All books must be published prior to October 1 but not earlier than February 1, 2023

For the first time ever, ASIL will accept electronic books (e-books) for consideration. Publishers should send e-books to awardsandhonors@asil.org. Publishers must also send at least one physical paper copy of each book to ASIL’s headquarters by the October 1 deadline to be eligible to participate in the book awards process. Publishers will also mail a book to any committee member who is unable to read e-books or if the book is unavailable as an e-book.

Please contact awardsandhonors@asil.org with questions.



Awards will be presented at the Society's Annual Meeting.

Certificates of Merit
The Society annually presents Certificates of Merit for books in three categories: (1) for a "preeminent contribution to creative scholarship"; (2) in "a specialized area of international law"; and (3) for "high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars."

The Robert E. Dalton Award
In 2020, the Society established a fourth book award, known as the Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law. The award, first presented in 2021, honors the memory of Bob Dalton, a distinguished State Department lawyer and longtime member of the Society. Books may be considered for the award if they pertain to the study of national law (of any country) bearing on foreign relations or the study of international law as it relates to national law (including, for example, international law in domestic courts).

American Society of International Law
ASIL Book Awards Committee
2223 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008

2024 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Immi Tallgren, ed., Portraits of Women in International Law: New Names and Forgotten Faces? (Oxford University Press 2023)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to lawyers and scholars: Esmé Shirlow and Kiran Nasir Gore, eds., The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution and Future (Wolters Kluwer, 2022)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Michael Byers and Aaron Boley, Who Owns Outer Space? International Law, Astrophysics, and the Sustainable Development of Space (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and Tommaso Pavone, The Ghostwriters: Lawyers and the Politics Behind the Judicial Construction of Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

  • Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law: Robert Hutchinson, After Nuremberg: American Clemency for War Criminals (Yale University Press, 2022)

View 2023-2024 Book Awards Committee Report

2023 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: René Provost, Rebel Courts. The Administration of Justice by Armed Insurgents (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to lawyers and scholars: Damilola S. Olawuyi Environmental Law in Arab States (Oxford University Press, 2022)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Boyd van Dijk Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions (Oxford University Press, 2022)

  • Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law: Lisa Ford, The King’s Peace (Harvard University Press, 2021) and Tom Ginsburg, Democracies and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021)



2022 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to lawyers and scholars: Amal Clooney & Philippa Webb The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2021)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Mira L. Siegelberg Statelessness: A Modern History (Harvard University Press, 2020)

  • Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law: Paul B. Stephan and Sarah H. Cleveland, eds., The Restatement and Beyond: The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Foreign Relations Law (Oxford University Press, 2020)



2021 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Francine Hirsch, Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II (Oxford University Press, 2020)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to lawyers and scholars: Janet Blake & Lucas Lixinski, eds., The 2003 UNESCO Intangible Heritage Convention: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2020)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Jerome A. Cohen, William P. Alford & Chang-fa Lo, eds, Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation (Springer Nature, 2019)

  • Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law: Curtis A. Bradley, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Foreign Relations Law (Oxford University Press, 2019)



2020 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Loveday Hodson & Troy Lavers, Feminist Judgments in International Law (Hart Publishing, 2019)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to lawyers and scholars: John Tobin, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2019)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Fernando Lusa Bordin, The Analogy between States and International Organizations (Cambridge University Press, 2019)




2019 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
The Society congratulates the winners of Certificates of Merit and Honorable Mentions for 2019:

  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Craig Forcese, Destroying the Caroline: The Frontier Raid that Reshaped the Right to War (Irwin Law Inc)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars: Rosalyn Higgins, Philippa Webb, Dapo Akande, Sandesh Sivakumaran, and James Sloan, Oppenheim's International Law: United Nations Volumes I and II (Oxford)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Maureen F. Tehan, Lee C. Godden, Margaret A. Young, and Kirsty A. Gover, The Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities (Cambridge)


2019 Honorable Mentions:


 
  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars: C. Donald Johnson, The Wealth of a Nation (Oxford)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Orna Ben-Naftali, Michael Sfard, and Hedi Viterbo, The ABC of the OPT (Cambridge)



2018 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Anthea Roberts, Is International Law International? (Oxford)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunnée, and Lavanya Rajamani, International Climate Change Law, (Oxford)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars: Jürgen Basedow, Giesela Rühl, Franco Ferrari, and Pedro de Miguel Asensio, Encyclopedia of Private International Law (Edward Elgar)



2017 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: David Sloss, The Death of Treaty Supremacy:  An Invisible Constitutional Change (Oxford)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Petros Mavroidis, The Regulation of International Trade, Volumes One and Two (The MIT Press)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars: Andrew Clapham, Paola Gaeta, and Marco Sassóli, The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary (Oxford)



2016 Certificate of Merit winners: 

 
  • Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship: Isabel V. Hull, A Scrap of Paper: Breaking and Making International Law During the Great War (Cornell, 2014)

  • Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law: Odette Lienau, Rethinking Sovereign Debt: Politics, Reputation, and Legitimacy in Modern Finance (Harvard, 2014)

  • Certificate of Merit for high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars: William A. Schabas, The European Convention on Human Rights: A Commentary (Oxford, 2015)


View all previous certificate winners

David D. Caron Prize

David D. Caron

The David D. Caron Prize is awarded to the best paper presented at the Research Forum by a current student or recent graduate. The Prize includes a travel stipend to enable the recipient to attend the Society's Annual Meeting to receive the Prize. For more about David D. Caron, his legacy, the David D. Caron Fund, and past winners, visit www.asil.org/DavidCaron.
  • 2023: Tobias Traxler, European University Institute, "Issues of Timing and Pro-Claimant Bias in Arbitration Selection"
    Tobias Traxler
  • Deák Prize

    Francis Deák

    The annual Francis Deák Prize is awarded to a younger author for meritorious scholarship published in the American Journal of International Law (AJIL). The prize was established by Philip Cohen in 1973, in memory of Francis Deák, former head of the international law program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and editor of American International Law Cases, 1783-1963, the first volume of which was published in 1971, the year before his death. The award is sponsored by Oxford University Press and made in the spring following the volume year in which the article appeared. A list of previous winners can be found here.
  • 2023: Neha Jain, Manufacturing Statelessness, 116(2) AJIL 237 (2022)
    Jay Butler
  • Interest Group Awards

    Some ASIL Interest Groups also give annual prizes. To see a list of winners, click www.asil.org/interestgroups.