Award Nominations 

The Undergraduate Student Paper Award and the Graduate Student Paper Award aim to recognize scholarly excellence and encourage participation by undergraduate and graduate students. One award will be granted in each category. The award includes a $200 prize, a one-year CAFS membership, and a complimentary ticket to the Forum’s Social Event, where the prizes will be awarded. 

The guidelines for submission are as follows:

  • Complete this form to be considered for review (incomplete forms will not be considered) 
  • Papers should be uploaded as Word documents or PDFs. 
  • Papers should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words (excluding bibliography).
  • Papers must be student-authored and on any food-related theme.
  • Submissions should specify if the paper was written for a course, major research project, thesis, or comprehensive exam, and indicate if it is being submitted to the undergraduate or graduate award category.
  • Submissions due by Friday, April 24, 2026. 

Lifetime Achievement Award 

The Canadian Association for Food Studies Lifetime Achievement Award honours individuals whose enduring scholarship, leadership, and public engagement have profoundly shaped food studies in Canada. The award celebrates visionaries and pioneers and recognizes sustained contributions that advance critical research, strengthen institutions, mentor emerging scholars, and deepen collective commitments to just and sustainable food systems.

The guidelines for nominations are as follows:

  • Complete this form to submit your nomination 
  • Provide a (max 500-word) statement detailing the nominee’s contributions and making the case for the award
  • Upload the nominee’s current CV or a comprehensive summary of work
  • Submit two or more letters of support (at least one from a CAFS member)
  • Include other material, including media clips, accreditations, videos, or testimonials (optional)
  • Nomination due by Friday, April 24, 2026. 

CAFS Lifetime Achievement Award past winners

  • 2011: Harriet Friedmann
  • 2014: Brewster and Kathleen Kneen
  • 2017: Mustafa Koç
  • 2020: Wayne Roberts

CALL FOR BOOKS: Submissions to a Collective Book Launch Event

We would like to celebrate the launch of new books by Canadian food studies scholars and CAFS members between 2024 and 2026. We are planning to host a collective book launch to highlight these publications as part of a social event during the assembly. The guidelines for submission are as follows:

  • Complete this form to submit your expression of interest
  • Input a 300 word Abstract of the book being launched 
  • Include citation of the book, including DOI (if applicable) 
  • Include 100-150-word biography of the authors or of each author/editor
  • Include head shots of the authors (if available) 
  • Accept the use of these details for event promotions 
  • Submissions due by Friday, April 24, 2026.
 

About the Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS)

 
CAFS is a non-profit organization that promotes interdisciplinary research, teaching, and outreach related to food systems. As a community, CAFS facilitates partnerships between researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders in the food industry to address pressing food-related issues in ways that enhance and support equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization. CAFS works to promote innovative approaches to food systems research and practice, including participatory and community-based research. On April 19, 2005, a number of academic and community-based researchers from Ontario met at Ryerson University to develop a proposal for a national research program about food security. CAFS was subsequently founded as an interdisciplinary academic association to identify research priorities and to share research findings on diverse issues. On August 16, 2006, it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation under the Canada Corporations Act. Since then, we have worked to expand our reach to include food sector practitioners and those with on-the-ground experience, so as to ground our efforts in diverse lived experience. Through our participation in national conferences and forums, a listserv, a bi-annual newsletter and the Canadian Food Studies Journal,  we exchange ideas and findings and develop new research priorities that deepen and extend our collective understandings. 
 
To learn more about CAFS, please visit Canadian Food Studies.