BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

The BAS Publication Awards

Recognizing excellence in biblical archaeology scholarship

New books appear every year on myriad topics within archaeology and biblical studies. Most are detailed, in-depth studies that make significant and novel contributions to our understanding of the Bible and its world; others are sweeping, authoritative surveys that become standard texts in the field. A select few, usually written for wider audiences, even become bestsellers, topping the charts on Amazon and in the New York Times.

For more than four decades, the Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) has sought to encourage and promote outstanding scholarship in the Bible and archaeology through the BAS Publication Awards. Named biennially since 1984, the awards recognize the best of the best, with top publishers nominating the latest books that are then judged by a panel of expert scholars. Through the years, books have been awarded in a number of different categories, with special focus on the best scholarly and popular books on archaeology and the best books relating to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In 2023, the Hershel Shanks Award for Best Dig Report was added to the list, in recognition of the longstanding efforts of BAR’s founding editor to make excavation results available to the broader public and scholarly community.

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Among the more than 100 books that have been awarded, including this year’s winners, many have had a lasting impact, becoming essential “must-haves” for anyone interested in biblical archaeology. Amihai Mazar’s Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000–586 B.C.E. (Doubleday, 1990), for example, which won the 1991 award for Best Scholarly Book on Archaeology, remains a standard textbook for many students entering the field. Similarly, Jodi Magness’s The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Eerdmans, 2002), which won for Best Popular Book on Archaeology in 2003, still serves as an authoritative introduction to what archaeology reveals about the scroll community at Qumran.

In the realm of biblical scholarship, the BAS Publication Awards have recognized such essential works as Emmanuel Tov’s Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Fortress, 1992; awarded 1993), now in its fourth edition and widely regarded as an indispensable guide to studying the literary history of the biblical text. Awarded in 1984, Wayne Meeks’s The First Urban Christians (Yale Univ. Press, 1983), which examined the social and historical context of Paul’s letters, became an instant classic that remains fundamental to understanding the growth of early Christianity. Similarly, New Testament scholar Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza’s groundbreaking work Jesus: Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet (Continuum, 1994; awarded 1995) employed a feminist reading of the Gospels to reveal the historical Jesus’s often-overlooked message of women’s liberation.

With such a long and lustrous list of awardees, the BAS Publication Awards have become treasured prizes within the academy. Archaeologist Eric Cline, one of few authors to be awarded multiple times, including for his recent book After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations (Best Popular Book on Archaeology, 2025), remarked that the awards hold a special “pride of place” among scholars in the field: “They are an indication that the serious work published by archaeologists, biblical scholars, and ancient historians has managed to break down barriers and reach not just their colleagues but the general public as well.”

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Making the awards even more prestigious is the fact that nominated books are judged by the top scholars in the field, including many who previously received awards themselves. Dead Sea Scroll scholar Sidnie White Crawford, who has judged the competition several times and also won an award in 2021 for her book Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran (Eerdmans, 2019), expressed just how privileged she feels to review so many books that bring the best and latest scholarship to the public. “One of the difficulties is choosing just one book!” said Crawford. “These awards serve as a gateway for popular audiences into scholarly research and help scholars reach an audience beyond the academy.”

Beyond scholarly and popular recognition, however, each award also includes a $500 prize, made possible through the years by the financial support of several generous donors, including the Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Charitable Foundation, Frederick Simmons, Samuel Turner and Elizabeth Gross, Judy and Michael Steinhardt, the Rohr Family, and Eugene and Emily Grant. Only through this vital support can BAS continue to honor the achievements of these great scholars who, with their research and discoveries, are reshaping our understanding of the biblical past.

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