The American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society

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Are You Done? Essentials of a Complete Proposal

The proposal window for the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society is closed.

By April 1, 2025, all proposals must be complete, including these essential components.

Preorganized Sessions

  • Session title
  • Sponsors, if any
  • A long (500-word) abstract for the session as a whole, which will be sent out for blind review. Do not name any panel participants.
  • A short (100-word) abstract for the session as a whole, which will appear in program materials if the proposal is accepted. Use AFS style. 
  • All sessions: the name, affiliation, and email of each presenter, submitted by the presenters themselves, with permission to publish (or not) their personal information
    • Chairs will need to indicate their panelists in their session proposal, and then staff will link presenters to your session.
    • Presenters will also need to submit their own personal information and permissions to publish it (or not).
  • For paper/media/mixed sessions: presentation information for each associated presenter, submitted by the presenter (see below)
  • Optional:
    • Scheduling notes: if we should know of any scheduling conflicts, tell us now.
    • AV notes: Will you need speakers, a projector, internet, etc.? Request them now, if necessary.

Paper/Media Presentations

  • Presentation title
  • Presentation mode (virtual or in person)
  • a short (100-word) abstract, which will appear in the program book if the proposal is accepted. Use AFS style. 
  • a long (500-word) abstract, which will be sent out for blind review. This is required of all presentations that are submitted for individual consideration; it is not required for presentations that are part of pre-organized sessions.
  • Media proposals must include the duration and a copy or sample of the work if possible: if it is available online, put the URL in the Notes to Staff field; if not, request additional mailing instructions from AFS staff.
  • Optional:
    • Keywords approved by the AFS Ethnographic Thesaurus that describe the content of your session as a whole. See Using Keywords in Annual Meeting Proposals before you register and submit your proposal.
    • Scheduling notes: if we should know of any scheduling conflicts, tell us now.
    • AV notes: will you need speakers, a projector, internet, etc.? Request them now, if necessary.