The St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies (SAIMS) invites entries for its annual Essay Competition, submitted according to the following rules:

1. The competition is open to all medievalists who are graduate students or have completed a higher degree within the last three years. For PhD students the time period of three years begins from the date of the successful viva, but excludes any career break. Any candidate in doubt of their eligibility should contact the Director of SAIMS at saimsmail@st-andrews.ac.uk.
2. A candidate may make only one submission to the competition.
3. The submission must be the candidate’s own work, based on original research, and must not have been previously published or accepted for publication.
4. Submissions are welcomed on any topic that falls within the scope of medieval studies.
5. The submission should be in the English language.
6. The word limit is 8,000 words, including notes, bibliography, and any appendices.
7. The text should be double-spaced, and be accompanied by footnotes with short referencing and a full bibliography of works cited, following the guidelines on the TMJ webpage: http://www.standrews.ac.uk/saims/tmj.htm. An abstract of 200 words should preface the main text.
8. The deadline for submissions is 1 May 2013.
9. The essay must be submitted electronically to saimsmail@st-andrews.ac.uk, in both Word and PDF formats, to arrive by the deadline.
10. The submission must be accompanied by a completed cover sheet and signed declaration; the template for this is available at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims/tmj.htm. The candidate’s name should not appear on the submission itself, nor be indicated in any form in the notes.
11. Decisions concerning the Competition lie with the Editors and Editorial Board of The Mediaeval Journal, who can, if they consider there to have been appropriate submissions, award an Essay Prize and in addition declare a proxime accessit. In the unlikely event that, in the judges’ opinion, the material submitted is not of a suitable standard, no prize will be awarded.
12. The value of the Prize is £500.
13. A candidate whose entry is declared proxime accessit will be awarded £100.
14. In addition to the Prize, the winning submission will be published within twelve months in The Mediaeval Journal, subject to the usual editorial procedures of the journal.

Any queries concerning these rules may be directed to the Director of SAIMS who can be contacted at:

Department of Mediaeval History,
71 South Street,
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9QW

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims
saimsmail@st-andrews.ac.uk

In honour of their founder, the late Professor Peter Isaac, Print Networks announces the foundation of a biennial essay prize for the best essay in the field of the History of the Book Trade in the Anglophone world.

The Rules

1. The essay can be on any aspect of the History of the Book Trade in the Anglophone world during the manuscript or print eras. Papers drawing on research in primary sources and critical, methodological or theoretical essays are welcome.
2. Any student registered for a postgraduate degree (master’s or doctoral) is eligible to enter the competition. Early career scholars within three years of completion of their PhD are also eligible, as
   are independent scholars without a formal affiliation.
3. The text of the essay (exclusive of references and bibliography) must be between 6000 and 8000 words. The essay must be submitted in English.
4. The essay must not have been published elsewhere.
5. An electronic copy of the essay (in Word format) must be submitted as an email attachment to Dr Catherine Armstrong convenor of Print Networks by 30 March 2013. C.M.Armstrong@mmu.ac.uk

The Decision

1. The essays submitted will be assessed by at least three members of the ‘Print Networks’ committee (all of whom are active researchers in the field).
2. Submissions will be judged in terms of their originality, depth, scope and rigour and the extent to which they make a new contribution to historical understanding, as well as qualities of style and presentation.
3. The Print Networks committee reserves the right not to award a prize in any particular year.
4. The prize will be announced in early July via email, on the Print Networks website and will be awarded publically at the Print Networks conference.
5. The prize will be £150 plus free entry (including food, drink and overnight accommodation) to the annual conference in Chichester from 23-25th July 2013.

The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship announces the 2013 competition for the Best Article on Feminist Scholarship on the Middle Ages. The Prize alternates every other year between a published essay and a first book, in any area of medieval studies that focuses on feminist scholarship. Nominated articles should represent the best in feminist scholarship published in 2011 and 2012. Submissions are considered for their relative merit to the study of women and feminist values in Medieval Studies.

The prize, which includes an award of $300, will be announced at the SMFS annual meeting and reception at the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI. Self-nominations are acceptable. Please send electronic copies of nominated essays (if available), along with a brief cover letter summarizing the essay’s merits and contributions, by February 15, 2013 to:

Dr. Wendy Hoofnagle
Email: Wendy.Hoofnagle@uni.edu

Australian Book Review seeks entries for the seventh Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the nation’s premier award for an original essay and one of the world’s most lucrative essay competitions.

The Calibre Prize is intended to generate brilliant new essays and to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition. We welcome essays from leading authors and commentators, but also from emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible.

First prize: $5000

Closing date: 10 December 2012

For more details and to enter, please visit the Calibre Prize website: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/prizes/calibre-prize

Call for nominations: Holberg International Memorial Prize 2013

The Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund invites nominations for the Holberg International Memorial Prize for outstanding scholarly work in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social science, law and theology. 

The Holberg International Memorial Prize is named after Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen in 1684 and held the Chairs of Metaphysics and Logic, Latin Rhetoric and History at the University of Copenhagen. Holberg played an important part in bringing the Enlightenment to the Nordic countries.

The Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund makes the award on the basis of the recommendation from the Holberg Prize Academic Committee, which consists of outstanding scholars in the academic fields covered by the prize. The prize is worth 4.5 million NOK (approximately EUR 570,000/ USD 800,000).

The prize is awarded to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law or theology, either within these fields or through interdisciplinary work. The prizewinner must have had a decisive influence on international research.

Scholars holding positions at universities and other research institutions, including academies, are entitled to nominate candidates for the Prize. The letter of nomination should be written in English and state the reasons for the nomination in 2 to 3 pages. The nomination should also include the candidate’s CV and suggest referees who know the scholar’s work. The function of the nomination is to make the Holberg Prize Academic Committee aware of the candidate’s work. Joint nominations do not strengthen a candidacy.

Nominations are strictly confidential. They should not be disclosed to the nominee or to others at any time.

Go to nomination form for the Holberg International Memorial Prize 2013

For more information on nomination to Holberg International Memorial Prize, contact:

Ivar Bleiklie
Director Holberg Prize
Email: ivar.bleiklie@holbergprisen.no
Tel: +47 55 58 86 04

Nominations are now open for the Australian Academy of the Humanities’ Crawford Medal, Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities. It is presented to an Australian-based, early-career scholar working and publishing in the humanities, whose publications contribute towards an understanding of their discipline by the general public. Nominations close Tuesday 31 July 2012. More information is available on the Academy’s website http://www.humanities.org.au/Grants/CrawfordMedal.aspx

The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship announces the 2012 competition for the best graduate article on feminist scholarship on the Middle Ages.

The SMFS Awards Committee solicits nominations for Best Graduate Article in any area of medieval studies. Nominated articles should represent the best in feminist scholarship written in the 2011-2012 academic year.

The prize, which includes an award of 5 years’ membership in SMFS and publication of the winning paper, subject to editing, in our journal Medieval Feminist Forum, will be announced at the SMFS reception at the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI.

Self-nominations are acceptable.

Please send nominated articles by September 15, 2012 to:

Professor Sally Livingston
Department of Humanities-Classics
Ohio Wesleyan University
61 S. Sandusky Street
Delaware, Ohio 43015
saliving@owu.edu

Villa I Tatti – The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies is pleased to announce an annual prize for the best scholarly essay on an Italian Renaissance topic. The author must have obtained a PhD within the last five years. The essay must have been published in English or Italian during the previous calendar year, as either an article in a journal or a chapter in an edited volume. The subject can be any aspect of the Italian Renaissance, broadly defined as the period ranging from the 13th to the 17th centuries; essays could also address historiography.

The selection committee will look for rigorous and original research, and convincing results expressed in clear and effective prose. The winning article or essay will be posted on our website, and the author will receive $1,000.

Guidelines:

1. Applicants must have received a PhD, dottorato di ricerca or equivalent, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 or 2012.  Authors of short-listed essays will be asked to provide proof of their PhD. Doctoral candidates who have not received their certificate by 30 June 2012 are not eligible.  Applicants must register for a user account before gaining access to the application.
2. For articles, please include the title of the journal, volume number, and page range. For chapters, pleased include the title of the volume, name of the editor(s), publisher, city of publication, and page range. Only texts printed in 2011 are eligible; in many journals, the date of printing differs from the date found on the cover or title page. Authors of short-listed essays will be asked to provide proof of the printing date, usually found at the beginning or end of a journal or volume.
3. The maximum length of an essay is 10,000 words, not including notes or bibliography.
4. Current employees of I Tatti, or appointees from academic years 2011/12 or 2012/13 are not eligible. Essays published by I Tatti are not eligible.

For more details and to apply, visit the I Tatti Prize website: http://itatti.harvard.edu/research/i-tatti-prize-best-essay-junior-scholar