Since 2013, the association has awarded an annual prize for the best article contributed to the EuroSLA Yearbook/JESLA, based on its originality and contribution to the field. The winner receives free attendance and dinner to one of the two next EuroSLA conferences.
2022: The best article prize was awarded to Audrey Rousse-Malpat, Rasmus Steinkrauss, Martijn Wieling and Marjolijn Verspoor for their paper Communicative language teaching: Structure-Based or Dynamic Usage-Based?
2021: The best article prize was awarded to Vladyslav Gilyuk, Amanda Edmonds and Elisa Sneed German for their paper Exploring the evolution in oral fluency and productive vocabulary knowledge during a stay abroad
2020: The Best JESLA Article prize for 2020 went to Aarnes Gudmestad, Amanda Edmonds and Thomas Metzger for their paper Modeling variability in number marking in additional-language Spanish
2019: The winners of the Best JESLA Article prize for 2019 were Kristof Baten and Frederik Cornillie for their paper Elicited imitation as a window into developmental stages.
2018: The JESLA Best Article Prize went to Simone E. Pfenninger and Sabrina Polz, for their paper Foreign language learning in the third age: A pilot feasibility study on cognitive, socio-affective and linguistic drivers and benefits in relation to previous bilingualism of the learner
2017: The winners of the first prize for best article in 
JESLA are Jean-Marc Dewaele and Livia Dewaele, for their paper The dynamic interactions in foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language enjoyment of pupils aged 12 to 18.
2016: The winner of the EuroSLA Yearbook prize is Yoshiyuki Nakata. The prize is presented for his paper ‘Promoting self-regulation through collaborative work: Insights from a multiple case study of foreign language learners’.
2015: The winner of the EuroSLA Yearbook prize is Bastien de Clercq. The prize is presented for his paper ‘The development of lexical complexity in second language acquisition’.
2014: The winner of the second EuroSLA Yearbook prize is Magali Paquot. The prize was awarded for ‘Cross-linguistic influence and formulaic language: recurrent word sequences in French learner writing’.
2013: The winner of the first EuroSLA Yearbook prize is Norbert Vanek. The prize was awarded for ‘Event linearization in advanced L2 user discourse: Evidence for language-specificity in the discourse of Czech and Hungarian learners of English’.