"The Great(er) Plains: Land and Water Issues for the Twenty-first Century" is the theme of the Thirty-sixth Annual Dakota Conference, a multidisciplinary conference funded in part by the South Dakota Humanities Council. The rural depopulation of the Northern Plains confronts those who remain with many issues, including land and water use, challenging conventional concepts of environmental stewardship. The Center for Western Studies invites papers examining land and water issues in their historical, literary, artistic, and archaeological contexts. Papers on related topics and from othter disciplines are also welcome. Invited humanities scholars include James E. Sherow, Kansas State University; Robert C. Steensma,University of Utah; Lakota poet Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, Rosebud Reservation; and plains poet David Allan Evans, South Dakota State University. Submission requirements: One-page paper proposal with presenter name, address, phone number, e-mail address, biography, and paper title and abstract. Selected papers will be published in conference proceedings.

Authors of books about the Northern Plains region are invited to submit their books for possible inclusion in the Seventeenth Annual Dakota Conference.

Cash awards of $150 and $100 are presented in professional, amateur, and student categories.