From 16-18 May, RMMRA members and their families attended the Association conference at the Resort Center in beautiful Park City, Utah. Offerings included a visit to the rare books room of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University; a musical performance by Musica Desiderata; a reception, a luncheon, and a banquet; and dozens of sessions and workshops on topics ranging from Christian basilicas of Constantinian Rome to multimedia technology in the classroom. Charles Odahl (Boise State University), Edward B. Irving (University of Utah), Jerome Mandel (Tel Aviv University), and Tom Burton (University of Adelaide) delivered plenary addresses.

We owe thanks to Paul R. Thomas (Brigham Young University), our conference coordinator, for this successful conference, as well as to Brigham Young University, the sponsoring institution, the BYU Departments of English and of French and Italian, and the BYU College of Humanities.

The 1997 RMMRA conference, which will mark the 30th anniversary of the Association, will be held 15-18 May in Banff, Alberta, an internationally known recreation area. The conference coordinator is Jean MacIntyre (Department of English, University of Alberta), who encourages you to submit papers and panel proposals. The 1998 conference will be held in May at Big Sky Resort in Montana.

The winner of the 1996 Allen D. Breck Award for the most distinguished paper by a junior scholar is Joseph D. Parry (Department of Humanities, Brigham Young University) for his essay entitled "Narrative Wholeness and Quattrocento Annunciation Paintings." According to one member of the selection committee, "the author's carefully constructed record of his interpretive speculation leads logically and effectively to the essay's conclusion, in which 'possibility,' rather than certainty, is shown to be at the heart of Quattrocento Annunciation Paintings." The award was presented by RMMRA president Sara Jayne Steen at the conference business meeting. Former RMMRA president Harry Rosenberg (Colorado State University) paid tribute to Allen D. Breck, the founding member of the Association for whom the award is named.

Eligible papers for next year's Breck Award (which includes a three-hundred-dollar cash prize) may be submitted by current members of the RMMRA who are either graduate students or assistant professors. The papers must contain previously unpublished work that was presented at the 1996 RMMRA conference in Park City. Please submit four copies of the essay by 1 October to Sara Jayne Steen (Department of English, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717), who will forward all submissions to the selection committee. The winner will be announced at the 1997 conference in Banff.

Secretary Kenneth Graham (New Mexico State University) reported that the Association's membership list has grown to over 450; treasurer Nancy K. Spatz (University of Northern Colorado) that the assets stood at just over $13,000, from which printing costs for issues 15 and 16 of the journal must be paid; and journal editor Catherine Corman Parry (Brigham Young University) that volume 15 has appeared and that the journal is seeking a foreign language editor. President Sara Jayne Steen noted that the Executive Council had named the new essay prize in honor of Allen D. Breck and reported on Association members' efforts to improve university teaching, to utilize new technologies, and to increase our liaison with secondary teachers.

The membership approved the Executive Council's recommendations to raise Association dues to $20 US for individual memberships and $25 US for institutional memberships beginning in 1997; and confirmed Susan Frye (University of Wyoming) as president-elect, Susan Aronstein (University of Wyoming) as treasurer, Nancy K. Spatz as assistant treasurer, and, as members of the Executive Council, Sharon A. Beehler (Montana State University-Bozeman), Jean MacIntyre (University of Alberta), Charles R. Smith (Colorado State University), Paul R. Thomas (Brigham Young University), Michael T. Walton (independent scholar), and Retha Warnicke (Arizona State University).

Volume 15 (1994) of the Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association appeared last spring, and volume 16 (1995) will follow shortly. Editor Catherine Corman Parry invites members of the Association to submit articles to her c/o the Department of English, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Please submit essays in three copies; those who have submitted may expect a reply in approximately four months.

If you join RMMRA now, your subscription to the Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association will be entered for the 1997 issue. Note that all 1997 conference presenters must be members of the Association. Please address your request (with $20 dues) to secretary Kenneth Graham (Department of English, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003; kgraham@nmsu.edu).

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