The Center for Southeast Asian Studies is proud to announce Saiful Umam as the winner of the 2010 SEA Graduate Paper Prize, awarded to the best Southeast Asian-related graduate paper presented at the 21st Annual SPAS Graduate Conference.  A Ph.D candidate in History, Saiful was recognized this afternoon for his presentation on “Localizing Islamic Orthodoxy in Northern Coastal Java in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries: The Case of Muhammad Salih Darat.”  Arguing that “localization” of Islam could also be a means of encouraging orthodoxy, his paper explored the way in which a noted Muslim scholar presented his teachings in pegon (Javanese using Arabic script) in order to make the basic tenets of the faith more comprehensible to ordinary people. Regarding Saiful as an exciting and innovative new scholar, CSEAS wishes him the best in his endeavors and looks forward to his future work in the field of Southeast Asian Studies.