The Judging Panel is chaired by Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee, and includes Voiceless co-founder and managing director Ondine Sherman, Literary Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Susan Wyndham, and Dr Wendy Were, former director of the Sydney Writers Festival.

“There is a rich world literature which takes animals – their feelings, wishes and desires – seriously. As of this year, Voiceless will be awarding a prize to recognise the best Australian short fiction and non-fiction that has at its heart the place of animals in the world we have made.”

Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee

The best pieces will be released as a collection by Publishing Partner Allen & Unwin, and The Sydney Morning Herald is supporting the Prize as Media Partner.

There is over $20,000 in prizes to be won, including $15,000 for the winner chosen by the Judging Panel (sponsored by Australian Ethical Investment), $5,000 for the People’s Choice winner sponsored by Deborah and Peter Debnam and $500 for each writer chosen for publication.

Hurry, entries close 16 March! For further details visit Voiceless http://www.voiceless.org.au/ and to enter visit Allen & Unwin http://www.allenandunwin.com/

The HSUS and the Animals and Society Institute invite applications from college and university faculty members for the twelfth annual Animals and Society Course Awards. The awards recognize excellence in courses concerning the human-animal bond, human obligations toward animals, the status of animals, and related topics.Past recipients have included scholars working in academic fields including animal science, animal-assisted therapy, anthropology, archeology, art, biology, communications, culture studies, education, environmental studies, ethology, history, law, literature, medicine, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, sociology and veterinary medicine.

Judges use criteria such as depth and rigor within the topic, impact on the field of human-animal studies, and originality of approach. Competitive entries for the awards would be courses that bring the study of animals and society into new arenas; approach the field from a novel perspective, or make use of novel teaching methods; provide exposure to students who would not otherwise address academic issues relating to animals and society; or are tailored to participants whose learning experience will have a direct impact upon animals and/or animal protection.

Two Animals and Society Awards will be presented for courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level, at colleges and universities worldwide. The first award is for an established course currently being taught.The second award is for a new course (including one offered once previously or scheduled to be offered).

Each award carries a prize of $1,500.

Nominees who offer more than one course may submit multiple applications. The prize money will be given to the institutional department in which the winning course is taught.

Nominations must include:

* a cover letter from the faculty member
* a course outline or syllabus with substantial detail and
annotation that showcase the course, and relevant supplementary
material
* a one or two paragraph description of pedagogical strategy or
framework guiding the course
* a one paragraph description of how the prize money will be used
* student evaluations for the previous two years the course was offered
*where available a letter of recommendation from the relevant department chairperson

The deadline is October 17,2011

No special forms are necessary. Send nominations as e-mail attachments to fgaeta@hsus.org or mail hard copies of nominations to:

Animals and Society Awards
Humane Society University
The Humane Society of the United States
700 Professional Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20879

When: Register by May 15th 2011 www.animalarchitecture.org/register

Deadline for submissions: June 12th 2011

Cost: $25 Students, $50 Professionals

From the website:

Animal Architecture seeks exciting projects that engage the lives, minds and behaviors of our alternate, sometimes familiar companion species — insects, birds, mammals, fish and microorganisms – each one with unique ways of world-making. As our society re-examines its place in the global ecology Animal Architecture invites your critical and unpublished essays and projects to address how architecture can mediate and encourage multiple new ways of species learning and benefiting from each other – or as we say it here: to illustrate cospecies coshaping.

We believe that a greater understanding of biotic and ecological relationships can influence design, reshape our cities, and restructure our homes — benefiting the human and non-human animals that interact with and around them. The burgeoning field of Anthrozoology is quantifying the positive effects of actively engaging other animals in human life. More than just simply pets, how can this growing awareness of other species influence the way we shape the world?

Animal Architecture wants to hear your ideas. Animal Architecture (formed in 2009) is dedicated to providing a forum for addressing the myriad issues arising from the complex interactions between animals and human society. The lens of our focus is Architecture. The aim of our study is to again see ourselves as partners in an intimate and reciprocal relationship with larger (sometime smaller) ecological forces.

Submissions can include past work, current research and built or unbuilt projects. Winning entries will be announced mid summer 2011 and will be eligible for inclusion in a publication and exhibition. Details to follow.

Submission requirements:
1) Project Abstract (<250 words pitching your project)
2) Project Description (< 600 word detailed description/narrative of the proposed project)
3) Images/Boards (no more than 10 images or 5mb, which ever comes first, of your visual project)
4) Further details regarding uploading, file transfer and submission will be disseminated after registration.
5) Posters available for distribution can be downloaded…

For further information see http://www.animalarchitecture.org/animal-architecture-awards/

This work follows a series of projects with the Soi Dog Foundation that suggest the potential relevance of cultural factors in predicting attitudes towards pet ownership behaviours, such as sterilisation. While research shows that concerns about animal welfare appear to be universal (Coleman, 2008), the manner in which those attitudes translate into action may be influenced by local beliefs and values. By exploring this in detail, we hope to use this information to inform western implementation of animal welfare management and educational programs in a way that is culturally sensitive and capacity building.

The Centre is looking for pet owners AND non-owners aged 18 and over who are fluent in English.

Please consider completing the survey at: 

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?AE8AE6FCAAEDFFFFA4

The Journal of Animal Ethics, which is to be published bi-annually in the summer and winter, is jointly edited by the internationally known theologian the Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and Professor Priscilla Cohn, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University and Associate Director of the Centre. The JAE is the first academic journal in the world to include the phrase “animal ethics” in its title.

“For far too long, academics have been slow to contribute to the bur-geoning public debate about animal ethics. This is an opportunity for them to make their contribution to a multidisciplinary journal that aims to put animal ethics on the academic map” said Professor Andrew Linzey. “We want to ensure that animals receive the academic attention they deserve.”

The Journal comprises: full-length scholarly articles, “argument” pieces in which authors will advance a particular perspective (usually related to current affairs) or respond to a previous article, review or research report, as well as review articles and book reviews.

The JAE is devoted to the exploration of progressive thought about animals and is multidisciplinary in nature and international in scope. It covers theoretical and applied aspects of ani-mal ethics that will be of interest to academics from both the humanities and the sciences, as well as professionals working in the field of animal protection. It aims to publish ground-breaking work written by new and established academics from a wide range of disciplines including anthropology, ethics, history, law, literature, linguistics, political theory, religion and science.

In the first issue of the JAE: David M. Lavigne and William S. Lynn address Canada’s commercial seal hunt; Joel Marks writes on how animal suffering is unrecognized in research; Andrew Fenton and Frederic Gilbert question the use of animals in spinal cord research; Judith Benz-Schwarzburg and Andrew Knight examine the cognitive abilities of animals and asks how long they can be denied similar rights to humans; Grace Clement asks whether animals can be classed as “pets or meat”? Barbro Froding, Martin Peterson, and Mark J. Rowlands debate whether animal ethics should be based on friendship, and Jan Deckers and Jay B. McDaniel debate whether Whiteheadians should be vegetarians.

To subscribe to the Journal, please visit the Journal’s website at www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/jane.html. Contributions to the Journal are welcomed and submission guidelines can be found on the JAE’s website.

For a free sample visit www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/jae_sample.php

The Animals and Society Institute and Wesleyan Animal Studies are proud to announce the selection of eight scholars for the 2011 ASI-WAS Human-Animal Studies Fellowship this summer.

This year’s fellowship will begin May 23 and end July 1 at Wesleyan University, through Wesleyan Animal Studies. It will be hosted by Wesleyan faculty Lori Gruen and Kari Weil. The fellows will conduct research in residence for six weeks on independent projects related to their field of study.

The fellows’ names and project titles are:

• Stephan Blatti, D.Phil., Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis: “The Dying Animal”

• Kery Chez, J.D., Ph.D. candidate in English, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York: “The Affect of Humaneness: Humane Movements and Pet-Keeping in Late Nineteenth-Century England and America”

• Kelly Enright, Ph.D., writer and museum consultant: “Extinction: How We Lose, Mourn, and Live with Lost Species”

• Alastair Hunt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English, Portland State University: “The Romantic Rhetoric of the Human”

• Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D. candidate in Geography, University of Minnesota: “Animating Futures, Reanimating Biopolitics: Animals, Technology and Future”

• Abebaw Gashaw Kebede, Ph.D, D.V.M., Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (Ethiopia): “Improving Community Animal Welfare in Jimma Zone”

• Richie Nimmo, Ph.D., Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester (U.K). “Primate Visionaries: Constituting Hybrid Knowledges on the Human-Nonhuman Boundary”

• Joshua Russell, Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Studies, York University (Canada): “On Lifetimes: Children’s Experiences of Animal Death”

Our thanks to the Summerlee Foundation for making this fellowship possible through a major grant. We also wish to thank the Animal Farm Foundation, the Culture and Animals Foundation and The Humane Society of the United States for their support of individual fellows.