Middleton Award

The Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA) annually makes the J.J.I. Middleton award for an article published in the South African Journal of Economics (SAJE).

Mr Middleton was a staunch and committed supporter of the Society and everything it stood for. Born in Scotland, he began his career as a banker in England in 1889. Subsequently he joined the Transvaal Colonial Service and later the Treasury of the Union of South Africa, becoming the Under-Secretary for Finance from 1918 to 1931. Mr Middleton also acted as Treasurer of the Economic Society for many years and generously made several capital donations to the Society for prizes and awards to meritorious members. He donated the die of the original emblem of the Society.

The late Mr Middleton hoped to encourage promising young economists to publish in their respective fields. The award takes the form of a gold-plated medal which bears the emblem of the Society on the one side and the name of the candidate on the other.

Criteria for the award are as follows:

  1. The award is for a paper published in the SAJE over the December to September issues of the journal of the preceding annual cycle of the journal.
  2. The paper must be a first paper by the prize recipient(s) in the SAJE.
  3. Eligible papers may have multiple authors, provided that all authors are first-time publishers in the SAJE.
  4. Any prize recipient(s) must be affiliated with a South African institution.
  5. Where the winning paper has multiple first-time authors in the SAJE, the prize will be shared among those authors with South African institutional affiliation.

The award is adjudicated by ESSA's Journal Management Committee in consultation with the SAJE Managing Editor.

Click here for a list of winners of the award.