On March 26, 2010, SPICE received the 2010 Franklin Buchanan Prize at the Association for Asian Studies annual conference in Philadelphia. The Buchanan Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding curriculum publication on Asia designed for any educational level, elementary through university. SPICE was recognized for its two-part Korea-focused series, U.S.-South Korean Relations and Uncovering North Korea. The primary authors of the series were Rylan Sekiguchi and Joon Seok Hong. Contributing authors were Rennie Moon and Gary Mukai. Rennie Moon attended the AAS conference to receive the prize on behalf of SPICE. Professors Gi-Wook Shin and John W. Lewis served as primary advisors for the two-part series.

The Buchanan Prize committee noted the following about the two-part series: "In U.S. classrooms, very little is taught about the Korean peninsula, unless it involves the Korean War. This series fills that gap by focusing on a broader perspective and looking at the social, economic, political and cultural development of this region over the past fifty years."

This is the fifth time that SPICE has won the Buchanan Prize since it was established in 1995. The Association for Asian Studies is a scholarly, non-political, non-profit professional association open to all persons interested in Asia and the study of Asia.