The European Association of Archaeologists instituted the EAA Student Award in 2002. The prize is awarded annually for the best paper presented by a student or archaeologist, working on a dissertation, at the EAA conference. The papers are evaluated for their academic merit and innovative ideas by the Award Selection Committee. 

The Award Selection Committee is consisted of the EAA Secretary (chair), the President, an Executive Board member, a Scientific Committee member, and the EJA Editor. The Executive Board member is appointed at the Board meeting at the beginning of the actual year.

The Award shall consist of a diploma. The winner of the award will be announced at the Annual Business Meeting.

All undergraduate, MA and Ph.D. students as well as archaeologists working on a dissertation, who present a paper at the conference are eligible to apply, and are urged to submit their papers to the Award Selection Committee for consideration by 30th August at the latest. The entries should be mailed to the EAA Secretariat's address eaa@arup.cs.cz.

The applicants should certify their student status (e.g. by a simple form signed by the professor/supervisor). The papers submitted must not have been published previously in a journal or given at a conference. If the winning paper is intended for publication, then priority must be given to the EJA. Other presented papers may also be published in the EJA. There will be a word limit of 3000 words for the submitted papers. If the scientific merit of the submitted papers is considered too low, the prize will not be awarded. .