Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best of BAR" awards

Online, January 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - WASHINGTON D.C. - The Biblical Archaeology Society, publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) announces the 2009 "Best of BAR" awards in the current January/February 2010 issue. These prestigious awards are given for the best articles of 2007-2008, as judged by two of the most eminent scholars in the fields of Biblical studies and archaeology.

This year, the $1,000 prize is split between two articles: "To What God? Altars and a House Shrine from Tel Rehov Puzzle Archaeologists" by Amihai Mazar and Nava Panitz-Cohen (BAR, July/August 2008) and "Hadrians's Hard-Won Victory" by Werner Eck (BAR, September/October 2007). The judges also gave an Honorable Mention to runner-up Lisbeth S. Fried's "Why did Joseph Shave?" (BAR, July/August 2007).

The selections were made by judges Amy-Jill Levine and Philip J. King. Levine is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at the Vanderbilt Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion and Program in Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University. King is Professor Emeritus at Boston College as well as the former president of the American Schools of Oriental Research, the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association of America.

The two winning articles as well the runner-up are available to read online on the BAS Web site at http://www.bib-arch.org/bestBAR2009. For further information or media inquiries, please contact Sarah Yeomans at [email protected].