The 2009-2011 National Lecture Program Committee of the Archaeological Institute of America invited Dr. Patrick Hunt to be an AIA National Lecturer. Various societies selected him to speak for the 2009-2011 academic years in venues including East and West Coasts (New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, etc.) and these locaitons were posted on the National AIA website.
Starting in 2011, Patrick is also serving a current term on an AIA national committee.
WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL WRITING PRIZE 2009-2010 and 2011-2012
Patrick Hunt was a Judge in Non-Fiction for this esteemed prize in 2009-2010 along with Keith Devlin and Fritz Maytag. He has again been named as a Judge in Fiction in 2011-2012, along with Minal Hajaratwala and Elizabeth McKenzie.
PERSIAN GOLDEN LIONESS 2008 - Award Winner- Laureate in Literature from the World Academy of Art, Literature and Media (WAALM)
In a fall 2008 London ceremony, Patrick was awarded the PERSIAN GOLDEN LIONESS 2008 in the form of a gold medal from the World Academy of Art, Literature and Media (WAALM) as a Laureate in Literature. This award recognizes his work in Iranian Studies, including his History Channel contributions to several episodes for the "Engineering an Empire" series, especially "Persia", for which he also did much background research, as well as for his academic publications on ancient Persia, his teaching repeat courses at Stanford on "Art and Archaeology of Persia" and overall cultural diplomacy.
Other awardees include Dr. John Curtis, OBE, British Museum, for his leadership in the blockbuster British Museum 2005 exhibition FORGOTTEN EMPIRE: THE WORLD OF ANCIENT PERSIA and co-authoring the exhibition catalog; also Dr. Richard Davis, Ohio State University, for his three volume translation of the great Persian epic SHAHNAMEH (Book of Kings), along with his other award-winning translations of Persian poets and his own acclaimed poetry; also Dr. Vesta Sarkoush Curtis, British Museum, for her books on Persian mythology and art and archaeology. Among other awardees in academe, film, television, music and journalism, the BBC was also awarded multiple prizes and former WAALM awardees since 2005 include Prof. Richard N. Frye of Harvard University and actress Vanessa Redgrave.
