2024 Application Window is Closed

The application period for The Sigourney Award-2025 will open March 1, 2025 – July 31, 2025.

Overview of Award Process

• Applicants (organizations, teams, and individuals) apply online 

• Completed applications received by the application due date, are reviewed by an independent panel of judges who determine that year’s recipients. 

• Applicants are contacted regarding their status in November.  

Who is Eligible?

• Organizations, teams, and individuals from all regions, across the globe are eligible for the Award. 

• Applicants whose work represents a significant contribution to psychoanalysis and/or psychoanalytic principles, over 10 years preceding the award year. Proposed work or work still in progress is not eligible. 

• Applicants whose work uses psychoanalytic principles to transform the human experience for the better, and/or

• Applicants whose work applies psychoanalytic principles beyond psychoanalysis, including but not limited to art, journalism, medicine, science, and social justice

• Previous applicants who do not win are encouraged to apply again for work completed within the 10-years prior to the Award year.  

The Trust encourages and seeks broad diversity among its applicants and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender, gender expression or identity, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, or military status. 

Who is Not Eligible?

• Applicants may not be currently serving or have served during the preceding year as an officer of any national or international psychoanalytic association. 

• Applicants may not be currently serving or have served as a Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust. 

• Past Award Recipients are not eligible to submit applications in future award years.  

Application Process

Applicants must be complete and submit the online application by the application due date. All theoretical orientations are welcome to apply. 

We encourage applicant’s materials to be submitted in English. However, submissions are welcomed in any language supported by Google Translate. Evaluation of submissions will be conducted in English leveraging Google Translate. While applications are expected to be clear and articulate, the applications are not judged on writing style, grammar, or spelling to ensure that international applicants are not slighted due to English being a second language.

Nominations

Nominations are welcome, however a nomination is NOT necessary to apply for the Award. All submissions follow the same application process whether the work is nominated or submitted directly by an applicant to help ensure the Award process is equitable.

Click the link on the Apply page to nominate the work of an individual, team, or organization.

Letter of Support Form

Letters of Support Forms are requested as part of the online application. After completing a summary paragraph, applicants provide contact information for two supporters. The supporter will receive a link via email and respond to a series of questions regarding the applicant's work. Once the form is complete, the supporter will submit it. The letter of support will automatically be attached to the applicant's application and be visible to judges for review.

Judging Process

Each year, following the application due date, a panel of three to five independent judges meet to review all completed applicant applications and determine that year’s recipients. Judges are appointed by the Trustees; their identity is strictly confidential. The judges evaluate applicants based on stated criteria and an objective scale. 

In reviewing applications, judges consider whether the applicant’s work advances The Sigourney Award's vision and mission and;

• expands the reach of psychoanalytic principles, treatment, or thought in a specific region, population, or the world, and/or

• increases positive public awareness of psychoanalytic principles, and/or

• uses psychoanalytic principles to transform the human experience for the better, and/or

• represents a significant contribution to psychoanalysis and/or psychoanalytic principles, and/or

• brings innovation to the field of psychoanalytic treatment or theory and/or

• applies psychoanalytic principles beyond psychoanalysis, including but not limited to art, journalism, medicine, science, and social justice

Our 2024 Recipients

Award Overview and Benefits  

The Sigourney Award invests in the future of psychoanalysis by rewarding outstanding work that: 

• represents a significant contribution to psychoanalysis and/or psychoanalytic principles, and/or

• brings innovation to the field of psychoanalytic treatment or theory and/or

• applies psychoanalytic principles beyond psychoanalysis, including but not limited to art, journalism, medicine, science, and social justice

Award

• Recipients receive a substantial cash award.

• The award amount of the award varies each year based on a number of variables, including the annual number of recipients and tax requirements.

• Recipients may use their award in any manner they choose.

Recognition

Join a remarkable group of prize Recipients.

• Awards are announced to the global psychoanalytic community.

• Recipients are listed on The Sigourney Award website with a photo and an overview of their work.

• Awards are also announced on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other web-based forums.

• A press release announcing annual Recipients is distributed to press, professional groups, and each Award Recipient.