top of page
Conover-Porter Award for Africana Bibliography or Reference Work

The Conover-Porter Award is presented every two years by the Africana Librarians Council of the African Studies Association (US). The award recognizes outstanding achievement in Africana bibliography and reference tools among works published in the preceding two years.

The Conover-Porter Award was established in honor of two pioneers in African Studies bibliography, Helen F. Conover, of the Library of Congress, and Dorothy B. Porter, of Howard University.

For more information and to nominate a title, please visit: https://africanstudies.org/awards-prizes/conover-porter-award/

​

DEADLINE: April 30, 2024. Submissions will be accepted starting January 1st.

​


Past Award Recipients, 1980-Present

​​

  • 2022 Winner: 

    • A Dictionary of Mozambican History and Society (Revised), by Darch C. & Souto Amélia Neves de. 2022. HSRC Press.
      (This work is a revision of Colin Darch, Historical dictionary of Mozambique. 2019. Rowman and Littlefield.)
       

  • 2020 Winner: 

    • No winner was selected; the single nomination did not meet required criteria.
      ​

  • 2018  Co-winners:

    • Historical dictionary of women in sub-saharan Africa / Kathleen Sheldon. 2nd ed. Rowman & LIttlefield, 2016

    • Dictionary of African Christian biography (DACB) / Jonathan Bonk, project dir. Overseas Ministries Study Center; Center for Global Christianity and Mission, Boston University
       

  •  2016 Winner: The writings of Mauritania and the western Sahara / compiled by Charles C. Stewart. (Arabic literature of Africa, vol. 5) Brill, 2015.
     

  • 2014 Winner: Africa bibliography. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
     

  • 2012 Winner: Africa yearbook Leiden: Brill, 2005- .
     

  • 2010 Winner: New encyclopedia of Africa / John Middleton, editor in chief; Joseph C. Miller, editor. 5 vols. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2008.
     

  • 2008 Winner: Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands: an annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593-1960s / Michel R. Doortmont and Jinna Smit. Leiden, The Netherlands; Boston: Brill, 2007.
     

  • 2006 Winner: African higher education: an international reference handbook / edited by Damtew Teferra, Philip G. Altbach. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c2003.

    • Honorable mention: African posters: a catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien / Giorgio Miescher and Dag Henrichsen. Basel, Switzerland: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2004.

    • Honorable mention: Mathematics in African history and cultures: an annotated bibliography / Paulus Gerdes; Ahmed Djebbar. Bellville, South Africa: African Mathematical Union, 2004.
       

  • 2004 Winner: The atlas of changing South Africa / A.J. Christopher. 2nd ed. London; New York: Routledge, 2001.

    • ​Honorable mention: Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African history / editor: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza deputy editor: Dickson Eyoh. London; New York: Routledge, 2003.

    • Honorable mention: Key events in African history: a reference guide / Toyin Falola. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
       

  • 2002 Co-winners

    • Maps of Africa to 1900: a checklist of maps in atlases and geographical journals in the collections of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign / by Thomas J. Bassett & Yvette Scheven. (Robert B. Downs Publication fund; no. 9.) [Urbana, Ill.]: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois: Distributed by [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign], The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 2000.

    • Books in African languages in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University: a catalog / compiled by David W. Bade. 2 vols. (PAS working papers; no. 8.) Evanston, Ill.: Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, 2000.

    • Honorable mention: Nigeria / Ruby A. Bell-Gam and David Uru Iyam, compilers. Rev. ed. (World bibliographical series, v. 100.) Oxford, England; Santa Barbara, Calif.: Clio Press, 1999.

    • Honorable mention: Traditional food plants of Kenya / Patrick M. Maundu, Grace W. Ngugi, Christine H.S. Kabuye. Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, National Museums of Kenya, 1999.

    • Honorable mention: A history of the church in Africa / Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed. (Studia missionalia Upsaliensia; 74.) Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
       

  • 2000 Winner: Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara / John Middleton, editor in chief. 4 vols. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1997.

    • ​Honorable mention: Reference guide to Africa: a bibliography of sources / Alfred Kagan and Yvette Scheven. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1999.
       

  • ​​1998 Co-winners:

    • Writings on African archives / John McIlwaine. London: Hans Zell Publishers for the Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa (SCOLMA), 1996.

    • Guia bibliográfico para o estudante de história de Moçambique: (200/300-1930) / Amélia Neves de Souto. 1a ed. (Colecção Nosso chão; no. 6.) Moçambicana. Maputo: Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Centro de Estudos Africanos, 1996.

    • Honorable mention: Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara / John Middleton, editor in chief. 4 vols. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1997.

    • Honorable mention: Muslims in South Africa: an annotated bibliography / compiled by Muhammed Haron. (Grey bibliography series; no. 21.) Cape Town: South African Library in association with Centre for Contemporary Islam, UCT, 1997.

    • Honorable mention: The media in Africa and Africa in the media: an annotated bibliography / Gretchen Walsh. London; New Providence, N.J.: Hans Zell Publishers, 1996.
       

  • ​​1996 Co-winners:

    • Black African literature in English, 1987-1991 / Bernth Lindfors. (Bibliographical research in African literatures; no. 3.) London; New Jersey: Hans Zell Publishers, 1995.

    • Sub-Saharan African films and filmmakers, 1987-1992: an annotated bibliograghy / Nancy J. Schmidt. London: Hans Zell Publishers, 1994.

    • Honorable mention: Jua kali literature: an annotated bibliography / Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme. Nairobi, Kenya: The Programme, 1993.

    • Honorable mention: Health in Botswana: an annotated bibliography / Mbulawa Mugabe and K. Moahi. Gaborone, Botswana: Published on behalf of the National Institute of Development Research and Documentation, University of Botswana, by Lentswe La Lesedi (Pty), 1994.

    • Honorable mention: The Weekly review index, 1975-1989 / Ruth Thomas. Nairobi, Kenya: Stellagraphics Ltd., 1993.
       

  • ​1994 Co-winners:

    • Sexuality and health in sub-Saharan Africa / Thomas George Barton. "An annotated bibliography"--Cover. Nairobi, Kenya: African Medical and Research Foundation, 1991.

    • African books in print = Livres africains desponibles / Hans Zell, ed. 4th ed. London: Hans Zell Publishers, 1993.

    • Honorable mention: Nigerian artists: a who's who & bibliography / compiled by Bernice M. Kelly; edited by Janet L. Stanley. London; New York: Published for the National Museum of African Art Branch, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, DC [by] Hans Zell, 1993.

    • Honorable mention: Africa: a guide to reference material / John McIlwaine. (Regional reference guides; no. 1.) London; New York: Hans Zell Publishers, 1993.
       

  • 1992 Co-winners:

    • ​Ngugi wa Thiong'o: a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, 1957-1987 / Carol Sicherman. (Bibliographical research in African written literatures. no. 1.) London; New York: Hans Zell Publishers, 1989.

    • Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the making of a rebel: a source book in Kenyan literature and resistance / Carol Sicherman. (Documentary research in African literatures; 1.) London; New York: Hans Zell Publishers, 1990.
       

  • 1990 Winner: Bibliographies for African studies 1970-1986 / Yvette Scheven. London; New York: Hans Zell, 1988.
     

  • 1988 Co-winners:

    • The arts of Central Africa: an annotated bibliography / Daniel P. Biebuyck. (Reference publications in art history.) Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, [1987].

    • African studies information resources directory / compiled and edited by Jean E. Meeh Gosebrink. Oxford; New York: Hans Zell, 1986.
       

  • ​1986 Winner: The political economy of Namibia: an annotated, critical bibliography / Tore Linné Eriksen, Richard Moorsom. (Norwegian foreign policy studies, no. 50.) Uppsala, Sweden: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in cooperation with United Nations for Namibia, 1985.
     

  • 1984 Winner: A new reader's guide to African literature / edited by Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy, and Virginia Coulon. 2nd, completely rev. and expanded ed. New York: Africana Pub. Co., 1983.
     

  • 1982 Winner: Foreign direct investments and multinational corporations in sub-Saharan Africa: a bibliography = Ausländische Direktinvestitionen und multinationale Konzerne in Afrika südlich der Sahara: eine Bibliographie / Roger Hilbert, Christiane Oehlmann. Frankfurt; New York: Campus Verlag, 1980.
     

  • 1980 Winner: The United States and Africa: guide to U.S. official documents and government-sponsored publications on Africa, 1785-1975 / compiled by Julian W. Witherell. Washington: General Reference and Bibliography Division, Reader Services Dept., Library of Congress, [1978].

​

​

​

bottom of page