• Can I submit an application in any language?

• Nominations

• Letters of Support

• Award Basics

• Award Criteria

• Application Process

• Judging Process

• Shift of the Three-year Geographic Rotation

• Advisory Council

• Trustees

Yes, You can submit your application in over 100 languages. Judging of submissions will be conducted in English leveraging Google Translate.

Nominations are welcome, however a nomination is NOT necessary to apply for the Award. All submissions follow the same online application process, responding to a series of questions, whether the work is nominated or submitted directly by an applicant. The consistent process for all applicants helps ensure the Award process is equitable.

Letters of Nomination count as one of the three online letters of support required for each application. Nominators submit the nomination electronically. The nominee is notified via email to review the nomination and complete the application process.

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

How many letters of support do applicants need?

Each application must include three online letters of support. If the work has been nominated, the nomination letter counts as one of the three letters of support. Note:  Nominators and Supporters are asked the same series of questions.

How do applicants request a letter of support form?

Within the application applicants write a title and two-sentence description of the work. This information will be included in the email request to your supporter.

1. Complete the contact information (name and email) and click “submit.” Once you submit the request, the Trust generates an email for each contact explaining that you are requesting a letter of support for the work you are submitting for The Sigourney Award.

2. Check "Spam or Junk." If your contact has not received your request, ask them to look for an email coming from info@sigourneyaward.org and check their "Spam or Junk Mailbox".

3. The Trust recommends that letters of support be submitted by July 24 to ensure the application’s completion by July 31. When a letter is submitted, you will be notified on your applicant dashboard

Who created the Award?

Mary S. Sigourney, a licensed psychotherapist, publisher, and community activist established the Award upon her death in 1988.   

Why did Mary Sigourney create the Award?

Mary Sigourney understood the significant contributions and lasting benefits of psychoanalysis, its ability to reduce human suffering and its value to understanding human affairs. Ms. Sigourney was concerned about the future of psychoanalysis and wanted to see it move beyond the walls of the consulting room. She felt that by recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of psychoanalysis and related disciplines, it would encourage new activity. 

What do Recipients receive?

Recipients join an outstanding group of past Award winners who are globally recognized as leaders in their field. Each recipient also receives a substantial monetary prize and extensive web and social media exposure in the professional community and general public.

How much is the monetary award?

The amount of the monetary award varies from year to year depending on a number of factors including the number of recipients chosen by the judges for that year and tax requirements. The Awards have typically ranged from $20,000 to $30,000 US dollars.

Are there any restrictions on the Recipient’s use of the monetary award?

There are no restrictions on use of the monetary prize and recipients have complete discretion as to how they use the funds. 

How many Awards have been given?

There have been 149 Awards since the Sigourney Award Trust began accepting applications in 1989, 19 to organizations, 2 to teams and 124 to individuals. Awards were given for the first time in 1990.

Is The Sigourney Award associated with any particular psychoanalytic organization?

No. Mary Sigourney wanted the Trust and the award to be protected as much as possible from political pressures. She appreciated the work that organizations do, and she wanted to ensure that the Trust and the Award remained separate and distinct from these organizations in order to maintain its freedom. Concerned that establishment psychoanalysts were preserving a closed system of training and practice with insufficient attention to applied psychoanalysis and research, Ms. Sigourney established the independent Trust.

What are the basic criteria for the Award?

The Sigourney Award welcomes applications from around the globe each year. The Trust recognizes that the applicant pool includes extremely accomplished individuals and organizations, with contributions spanning decades. However, The Sigourney Award recognizes only work which has been produced during the most recent ten years.

Submitted work may belong to a wide variety of fields. Work will be assessed in terms of one or more of these criteria:

• advancing The Sigourney Award's vision and mission

• enriching psychoanalytic thought, techniques, applications, practices, or institutions

• enhancing the cultural and social impact of psychoanalysis

• facilitating collaborations or dialogues between psychoanalysis and another discipline

• creating work in any form of art that resonates with or casts a new light upon psychoanalysis, in any of its aspects

• expanding the reach of psychoanalytic principles, treatment, or thought generally, or in a specific region, group, or cultural context

• increasing positive public awareness of psychoanalytic principles

Who established the criteria for the Award?

Mary Sigourney established the Award criteria.

Is the Sigourney Award a lifetime achievement award?

No. Judges look for a substantial body of outstanding work performed during the ten years preceding the award year.

Is the Award only given to individuals?

No. Organizations and teams are also eligible and have received the Award. 

Who is eligible for the Award?

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.

• 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 artistic work nominated pushes beyond conventional boundaries of contemporary psychoanalytic theory or practice and has influenced or increased awareness of psychoanalytic thought or principles in unconventional ways.

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

Who is not eligible for the Award?

No individual is eligible for the Award if he or she is currently serving, or has served during the preceding year, as an officer of any national or international psychoanalytic association. No current or former Trustee of The Sigourney Trust is eligible for the Award. Past Award Recipients are not eligible.

Is the Award limited to one type of psychoanalytic activity?

No. Mary Sigourney believed that psychoanalysis and the application of its principles extend well beyond psychoanalytic research, therapy, and teaching and wanted to recognize other types of work as well. Today, psychoanalysis embraces a range of philosophies, modern clinical theories, social advocacy, culture, art, and research. The Trust honors the expansion and connection of psychoanalysis to many fields of study and experience through The Sigourney Award.  

Significant works by clinicians, theorists, teachers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and other professionals and organizations are eligible for the award. Applicants are strongly encouraged to cite specific examples of their work’s impact or influence on psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic thought or practice, or public awareness of psychoanalysis in any realm—academic, applied, theoretical, clinical, creative, or social justice.

What is the overall application and award procedure?

The Sigourney Award welcomes applications from around the globe each year. The Trust recognizes that the applicant pool includes extremely accomplished individuals and organizations, with contributions spanning decades. However, The Sigourney Award recognizes only work which has been produced during the most recent ten years. For the 2025 award, only work produced from 2015 through 2024 will be considered.

The completed application should clearly communicate what is outstanding or innovative about the applicant/nominee’s recent work and articulate that work’s impact. Each application question is intended to facilitate the judges’ understanding of the work’s contribution to one or more of the judging criteria.

How do I request letters of support?

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

What do applicants need to apply? 

View the apply page or go directly to the application portal.   

When are applications due?

Applications are accepted between March 1 and July 31.    

Must all application materials be in English?

We encourage applicant’s materials to be submitted in English. However, the Trust welcomes submissions by any individual, team, or organization conducting groundbreaking work anywhere in the world and in any language supported by Google Translate. Please note that the evaluation of submissions will mainly be conducted in English using Google Translate, except when a judge is multilingual. 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.

When are the Award recipients announced?

The recipients are publicly announced in November of the award year. 

Can I find out who applied in a particular year?

No. The names of nominees are confidential and not released publicly.

Who determines the number of recipients each year?

The judges determine the number of recipients, typically three.

How are the judges chosen?

• The Trustees annually appoint a three to five judge panel.

• The Trustees seek individuals who are fair and open minded and not beholden to any particular applicant, theoretical perspective, or geographic region, with a goal of creating a panel that is unbiased and geographically and professionally diverse.

• An effort is made to include an individual who has a professional identification outside of clinical psychoanalysis.

Who are the judges?

The identity of the judges is strictly confidential and not released publicly. 

What is the judging procedure?

• The Trust has established a judge training and evaluation criteria to support the judges in objectively evaluating applications.

• Each nomination packet is evaluated independently by each judge.

• Submissions are ranked based the application’s strength, using an objective scale. 

Why are the geographic rotations being shifted?

Mary Sigourney’s original vision was to reward ground-breaking psychoanalytic principles across academic, humanitarian, and arts-focused fields, worldwide. In addition, she sought to attract individuals across gender, race, culture, location, and professional categories. Shifting the focus from regional applications to international applications will help the Trust realize her vision by expanding awareness of The Sigourney Award worldwide and ensuring greater applicant diversity. 2019 and 2020 were transitional years as The Sigourney Trust shifted the three-year geographic rotation to an annual international call for applications.  

2019
Applications were accepted from around the world. Up to two awards were open only to European nominees. Up to two awards were open to applicants from anywhere in the world.

2020
Applications were accepted from around the world. Up to two awards were open only to Latin American applicants. Up to three awards were open to applicants from anywhere in the world. In 2020, applications from Latin America were accepted in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and any language supported by Google Translate.

2021
Applications were accepted from anywhere in the world with no geographic designation assigned.

The two transitional years enabled the Trust to confirm the new changes:

• better assured Mary Sigourney’s goal of a global Award; 

• reduced the tendency of favoring the status quo;

• better included emerging countries and non-traditional applications of psychoanalysis;

• was less complicated--applicants no longer needed to track where their country was in the geographic cycle and can now apply in any year;

• allowed recognition of applicants whose impact and work are international and not limited to a particular geographic area;

• Assured that recipients receive global, rather than limited regional, recognition;

• enabled us to better reach potential applicants on an ongoing basis—technology now makes it easier to expand to communicate to a larger pool of applicants; and

• eliminated limiting geographic categories that did not represent the international nature of the Award that Mary Sigourney established. 

Can an organization, group or individual apply for the Award any year regardless of geographic location?

Yes.

We want to submit work that was done by a group of people, but we are not an official organization. How do we do that? 

• The award will recognize the group’s work rather than individual’s work within the group.

• Determine what you wish to call your group and use that for the Group Name in the application. 

• Decide who will be the primary contact for the group and provide their contact information in the application.  

• Note the additional group member’s names within the application. 

• If the group wins, the primary contact is responsible for distributing the funds to the group. 

How does the Trust ensure that an applicant from a country that has a small or lesser known psychoanalytic community can fairly compete with applicants from more established psychoanalytic communities? 

The Award takes very seriously the need to judge an applicant’s contribution to enhancing progress for the psychoanalytic community both by world-wide standards and by local standards. In response to the tension between judging globally and locally, the Award is taking the following steps:        

• The judges’ panels will be globally diverse and include those who work with innovative applications of psychoanalysis;

• Judges will be provided with objective standards for the Award; and

• The Trustees and judges will monitor for unconscious bias regarding issues of region, gender, race and theoretical orientation.

Who do I contact if I have questions about the Award?

The Trustees - visit Contact.

What is the role of the Advisory Council?

The Advisory Council expands the reach and outlook of the Trust. It serves as a sounding board for the Trustees and advises the Trustees as requested. 

Who appoints the Advisory Council?

The Trustees appoint the Advisory Council.

Who is currently on the Advisory Council?

Ines Bayona Villegas, Stefano Bolognini, Peter Fonagy, Glen Gabbard, Maria Teresa Savio Hook, Mark Solms

Who are the Trustees?

The Trust has two Trustee positions, one held by a distinguished psychoanalyst and one held by an attorney with experience and appreciation of the fiduciary duties of a trustee. The current Trustees are Dr. Robin A. Deustch, PhD and Michael J. Harrington, JD.