Honoring Outstanding Psychoanalytic Work Worldwide
Honoring Transformative Contributions to Psychoanalytic Thought & Action
Since 1990, The Sigourney Award Trust has recognized groundbreaking work that advances psychoanalytic thought and brings its insights to bear on human affairs. Each year, an international panel of judges selects work that embodies founder Mary Sigourney’s vision of psychoanalysis as a living, evolving discipline. This year’s submissions came from 23 countries, and the four honored bodies of work span the globe: treating children amid ongoing war in Gaza, protecting children from incest and sexual abuse in Argentina, bridging divides of race and difference in the United States, and advancing psychoanalytic research and treatment in the United Kingdom. Explore the work below.
“This year’s honored work engages people in new ways, through psychoanalytic methods and meaningful action. Each body of work shows psychoanalysis doing what it does best: restoring trust, meaning, and human connection.”
— Robin A. Deutsch, PhD, Analyst Co-Trustee.
| 2026 Sigourney Award Recipients
| 2026 Sigourney Award Recipients
Salem Eid Al-Arjani, PhD
GAZA, PALESTINE
Dr. Al-Arjani’s cutting-edge work, conducted amid ongoing war in Gaza, has redefined resilience as the capacity to imagine, find meaning, and stay connected while danger continues, offering a new framework for psychoanalysis in extreme frontiers
Paula Christian-Kliger, PhD, ABPP
NEW YORK, USA
Dr. Christian-Kliger’s extraordinary interdisciplinary work has carried psychoanalytic insight into clinics, companies, and communities, using art and humanistic and Buddhist practices to open dialogue across race, culture, and difference.
Juan-Eduardo Tesone, MD, PhD
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Dr. Tesone’s pioneering work has confronted actual incest and child sexual abuse, a subject psychoanalysis long kept at a distance, and translated that understanding into a prevention program protecting schoolchildren in Argentina.
University College London
Psychoanalysis Unit Organization
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
The UCL Psychoanalysis Unit’s groundbreaking work has put psychoanalytic ideas to rigorous scientific testing, developing effective treatments for some of the hardest-to-treat patients while preserving the depth that makes them psychoanalytic.
“The persistent rumors of the irrelevance of psychoanalysis have once again been powerfully refuted by the extraordinary work being done around the world by clinicians, researchers, writers, activists, and artists.”
–The Sigourney Award Judge, 2025
Mary’s Mindset: Reward & Inspire
Mary Sigourney wanted to reward and inspire great work from every corner of the world. Emeritus Trustee Jim Devine shares Mary’s expansive and inclusion vision in this video. If your work, has reshaped understanding, sparked dialogue, influenced culture, or transformed lives through psychoanalytic principles or thought, we invite you to step forward and apply.
Myth or Truth
For more than three decades, The Sigourney Award has honored exceptional contributions to the field of psychoanalysis on a global scale. Mary Sigourney’s independent trust established an Award to acknowledge and foster the integration of psychoanalytic concepts across various disciplines.
Our mission is to inspire individuals worldwide to either submit their work for consideration or nominate others whose contributions stand out. As members of The Sigourney Award’s Volunteer Advisory Council, we hope to offer facts that dispel untruths and help broaden worldwide recognition of the Award.
2024 Advisory Council
Ines Bayona Villegas, Columbia | Stefano Bolognini, MD, Italy | Peter Fonagy PhD, United Kingdom | Glen Gabbard, MD, United States | Maria Teresa Savio Hooke, OAM, Australia | Mark Solms, MD, PhD, South Africa
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Contrary to the belief that The Sigourney Award is a culmination of a lifetime’s work, it is not a lifetime achievement award. Mary Sigourney stipulated that the award should recognize work accomplished within the decade preceding the award year, making it accessible to a broader range of professionals at various stages of their careers.
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While nominations are welcomed and valued, eligibility for The Sigourney Award is not contingent upon nomination by peers within the psychoanalytic community. Self-nominated and peer-nominated applicants undergo the same comprehensive evaluation process.
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Actually, The Sigourney Award honors contributions that employ psychoanalytic concepts in innovative ways across a diverse array of fields. Work eligible for consideration may include achievements in academic research, clinical practice, and other disciplines such as anthropology, the arts, child development, criminology, law, medicine, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
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The work needs to be outstanding or innovative, not necessarily well-known. The Sigourney Award’s application process is designed to help applicants describe the impact of their work and how it has advanced psychoanalytic thought or principles within the ten year period prior to the Award.
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The work needs to be outstanding or innovative, The Sigourney Award is not restricted by geographic region or language barriers. The application process now accommodates submissions in over 150 languages. The Sigourney Award’s application process is designed to help applicants describe the impact of their work and how it has advanced psychoanalytic thought or principles within the ten year period prior to the Award.
In Their Own Words
Learn more about the diverse work of our honorees in these brief videos.
Welcoming the World
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Welcoming the World *
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Apply in 2027
Applicants are encouraged submit work that applies or contributes psychoanalytic principles to medicine, psychiatry, other sciences, the arts, literature, or film. Applications will be accepted from all geographic locations starting March 1, 2027.
Extraordinary Work From Around the Globe
Our community of honorees represent the forward-thinking that founder Mary Sigourney envisioned. Explore the impact made by past Award Recipient’s work.
Sigourney News
