The Harold and Margaret Sprout Award was established in 1972 and named in honor of two pioneers in the study of international environmental problems. The award is given annually to the best book in the field – one that makes a contribution to theory and interdisciplinarity, shows rigor and coherence in research and writing, and offers accessibility and practical relevance. Nominated books should address some aspect of one or more environmental, pollution or resource issues from a broadly international or transnational perspective, including works in (for example) global, interstate, transboundary, North-South, foreign policy, comparative or area studies. Environmental subjects of books can include (for example) environmental law, diplomacy, transnational activism, natural resource use, global change, sustainable development, biodiversity, transboundary pollution control, and the like.
Nominated works must be published during the two years prior to the year they are nominated for. Books with a copyright date of the award year are welcome provided that they are released by the previous year’s end. Each publisher may nominate more than one book, and books nominated for the prior year can be re-nominated. The committee members will begin reading the books as soon as they arrive. The committee must complete its review and reach its decision by the beginning of the award year in time for presentation of the award at the annual meeting of the ISA in February or March. Therefore, we need to receive notice of nominations and receive copies of nominated books by 1 August.
Publishers wishing to nominate books should send one copy of each book to each member of the Sprout Award Committee. The names and addresses of committee members are listed on the “officers” page of this site: http://environmental-studies.org/?page_id=5.
| Year | Recipient | Title |
| 2017 | Thomas Princen, Jack P. Manno and Pamela L. Martin | Ending the Fossil Fuel Era |
| 2016 | Sikina Jinnah | Post-Treaty Politics: Secretariat Influence in Global Environmental Governance |
| 2015 | Jessica F. Green | Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance |
| 2014 | Joanna I. Lewis | Green Innovation in China: China’s Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy |
| 2014 | Jeannie L. Sowers (runner-up) | Environmental Politics in Egypt: Activists, Experts, and the State |
| 2013 | Andrew S. Mathews | Instituting Nature: Authority, Expertise, and Power in Mexican Forests |
| 2012 | Rob Nixon | Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor |
| 2011 | Daniel Bodansky | The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law |
| 2010 | D.G. Webster | Adaptive Governance: The Dynamics of Atlantic Fisheries Management |
| 2009 | Steve Vanderheiden | Atmospheric Justice: A Political Theory of Climate Change |
| 2008 | David Humphreys | Logjam: Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance |
| 2007 | Thomas Princen | The Logic of Sufficiency |
| 2006 | Ken Conca | Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building |
| 2005 | Benjamin Cashore | Governing Through Markets – Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-State Authority |
| 2004 | Edward A. Parson | Protecting the Ozone Layer |
| 2003 | Thomas Princen | Confronting Consumption |
| 2002 | Paul F. Steinberg | Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries: Transnational Relations and Biodiversity Policy in Costa Rica and Bolivia |
| 2001 | Roni Garcia-Johnson | Exporting Environmentalism: U.S. Multinational Chemical Corporations in Brazil and Mexico |
| 2000 | Yok-shiu F. Lee/ Alvin Y. So | Asia’s Environmental Movements: Comparative Perspectives |
| 1999 | Nicholas Low and Brendan Gleeson | Justice, Society, and Nature: An Exploration of Political Ecology |
| 1998 | Peter Dauvergne | Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia |
| 1997 | Paul Kevin Wapner | Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics |
| 1996 | Marian A. L. Miller | The Third World in Global Environmental Politics |
| 1995 | Ronald B. Mitchell | Intentional Oil Pollution at Sea: Environmental Policy and Treaty Compliance |
| 1994 | Oran R. Young and Gail Osherenko | Polar Politics: Creating International Environmental Regimes |
| Jon M. Van Dyke | Freedom for the Seas in the 21st Century: Ocean Governance and Environmental Harmony |
| 1993 | William R. Cline | The Economics of Global Warming |
| 1992 | Elinor Ostrom | Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action |
| 1991 | World Resources Institute and International Institute for Environment and Development | World Resources 1990-91: A Guide to the Global Environment |
| 1990 | H. Jeffrey Leonard | Pollution and the Struggle for the World Product: Multinational Corporations, Environment, and International Comparative Advantage |
| 1989 | Barbara Jancar-Webster | Environmental Management in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia: Structure and Regulation in Federal Communist States |
| 1986 | James K. Sebenius | Negotiating the Law of the Sea: Lessons in the Art and Science of Reaching Agreement |
| 1985 | Lynton Caldwell | International Environmental Policy: Emergence and Dimensions |
| 1981 | R. Michael McGonigle and Mark Zacher | Pollution, Politics, and International Law: Tankers at Sea |
| Kenneth Dahlberg | Beyond the Green Revolution |
| 1977 | Amory Lovins | Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken |