In 2022, AFS President Marilyn White initiated and funded the inaugural award for the AFS Presidential Award for Meritorious Service. This award recognizes exceptional service to the discipline that goes above and beyond our usual research, documentation, presentation, or conservation. It honors someone who embarks upon extraordinary service in care of one’s colleagues and the discipline. The individual does not have to be a member of AFS. While the award can be offered annually, it will be at the discretion of the current President.
The award includes an honorarium of $1,000 and support to attend the annual meeting to receive the award in person.
President White presented the inaugural Presidential Award for Meritorious Service to Iryna Voloshyna in recognition of her visionary efforts to protect a wide variety of cultural heritage documentation at the start of Putin’s war on Ukraine. Read more about Iryna, her work, and the inaugural award in AFS News.