Royal Historical Society
University College London, Gower Street, LONDON, WC1E 6BT
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Grants & Prizes
For information on all grants and awards please see the Postgraduate Information page.
Prizes
The Royal Historical Society award a number of prizes each year to recognize outstanding historical scholarship and achievement. The various awards embrace the whole range of the Society's engagement, and celebrate everything from the best performance by an 'A' level student to the best first book by an early career researcher.
The full list of awards is as follows. If you have any queries regarding prizes, please contact us.
The Alexander Prize
The Alexander Prize is awarded for a published scholarly journal article or an essay in a collective volume based upon original historical research. The value of the prize is £250 or a silver commemorative medal. The Prize has been reconfigured from 2006 to recognise and reward the research accomplishments of doctoral candidates and of early career historians. The Prize has also been altered from an award for unpublished research to an award in recognition of published scholarship.
Candidates must be doctoral students in History in a UK institution, or be within two years of having completed a doctorate in History in a UK institution. The article/essay submitted must have been published in a journal or edited collection during the period 1 January 2007 - 31 December 2008. In addition to the monetary prize, the winner will be invited to submit a further paper within nine months of the award for consideration by the Literary Directors, with a view to reading the paper before the Society and eventual publication in the Society's house journal Transactions of the Royal Historical Society.
Past Winners of the Alexander Prize
The David Berry Prize
A prize of £250 will be awarded to the writer of the best essay on a subject, to be selected by the candidate, dealing with Scottish History, provided such a subject has been previously submitted to and approved by the Royal Historical Society. The essay submitted must be a genuine work of research based on original (manuscript or printed) materials. The essay should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words in length (excluding footnotes and appendices).
Past Winners of the David Berry Prize
The Frampton and Beazley Prizes
The Royal Historical Society awards annually a prize of £100 for the best performance in the History A-level examinations of each of the examining boards in the United Kingdom
Past Winners of the Frampton and Beazley Prizes
The German History Society Essay Prize
The German History Society, in association with the Royal Historical Society, will award a prize of £500 to the winner of an essay competition. The essay can be on any aspect of German history, including the history of German-speaking people both within and beyond Europe. Any postgraduate registered for a degree in a university in either the United Kingdom or the Republic or Ireland is eligible to enter the competition. The text of the essay must not exceed 10,000 words.
Two hard copies of the essay must be submitted to the office of the Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT by 16 June 2008, together with details of the author's name, address (including e-mail address), institutional affiliation and degree registration.
Past Winners of the German History Society Essay Prize
The Gladstone History Book Prize
The Royal Historical Society offers an annual award of £1,000 for a history book published in Britain on any topic that is not primarily British history. To be eligible for the prize the book must be its author's first solely written book on a historical subject which is not primarily related to British history. The book must also be an original and scholarly work or historical research and have been published in English during the calendar year by a scholar normally resident in the United Kingdom.
Books are nominated by their publishers.
Further information and entry form
Previous Winners of the Gladstone Prize
Rees Davies Prize
The Royal Historical Society has established a new graduate essay prize in memory of its former President and distinguished medieval scholar, Professor Sir Rees Davies (1938-2005).
The prise is open to all graduates who have been awarded grants to attend conferences under the Society's research support scheme. The prise will be publication of the essay in the following year's edition of the Society's pretigious journal Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, three year's free membership of the Royal Historical Society (which includes subscription to the Transactions) and a cash prize of £100.
Royal Historical Society / History Today Prize
This prize is intended to reward high-quality worl done by undergraduates in the dissertations that are now an integral part of most history courses. This prize is being jointly sponsored by the Society and by History Today, and is part of our close association with a magazine which does such invaluable service for the cause of history.
The potential entry for such a prize in any year is of course very large and to reduce numbers to manageable proportions for those who will assessing them it will be necessary to limit entries to one for every department in the United Kingdom. Accordingly history departments are invited to submit to the Society the name and home address of the candidate judged by the examiners to have presented the best dissertation, by 1 August 2008. The Society will then contact departmental nominees and invite them to enter the competition. The successful candidate will be awarded a prize of £250 and, at the discretion of the Editor of History Today, an article-length reduction of their dissertation will be published in a future issue of the magazine. The success of this venture depends very much on the willingness of departments to let us have th details of their best candidates in due course.
Royal Historical Society/History Scotland Prize
The Society has much pleasure in announcing a new prize intended to reward high-quality work done by undergraduates in dissertations on any aspect of Scottish history. This prize is being jointly sponsored by the Society and by History Scotland and represents a new partnership with a magazine which does invaluable service in promoting the cause of history. The potential entry for such a prize in any year is of course large and to reduce numbers to manageable proportions for those who will be assessing them it will be necessary to limit entries to one for every Higher Education institution in the United Kingdom.
Accordingly history departments are invited to submit to the Society by 1 August 2008 either a copy of the dissertation that they wish to nominate or the contact details of the candidate who would be able to supply such a copy. The successful candidate will be awarded a prize of £250 and, at the discretion of the Editor of History Scotland, his or her piece will be published in a future issue of the magazine.
Whitfield Book Prize
The Royal Historical Society annually offers the Whitfield prize (value £1,000) for a new book on British history. To be eligible for consideration the book must be on a subject within a field of British history and have been published in the United Kingdom during the calendar year. It must also be its author's first solely written book and be an original and scholarly work of historical research.
Books are nominated by their publishers.
Further information and entry form
Past Winners of the Whitfield Prize
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NEXT EVENT
Friday 26 September
Professor James Walvin
"The slave trade, abolition and public memory"
5.00pm
Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre
University College London
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