Applications for the Thirsk Prize

For MA students in history or archaeology of Kent, a total of £1000 can be awarded either as a single prize or split between a winner and a runner-up. This is the Kent Archaeological Society’s biennial prize named in honour of the late Dr Joan Thirsk, a distinguished historian and a long-standing member of the Society. It/they will be awarded for a dissertation submitted as part of a successful Master’s degree. The prize(s) will be awarded to a dissertation judged to be a major contribution to the history or archaeology of Kent (including districts which were originally part of the county and are now within the Medway unitary authority and the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham).

The KAS will consider, for the Thirsk Prize, dissertations completed for a Master’s degree within the current and preceding calendar years. Dissertations can be submitted from any academic institution.

The Thirsk Prize aims to reward students working on the history and archaeology of Kent and to help promote publication of articles that advance scholarly knowledge of the county’s past.

The KAS will be willing to give advice on publication. The editor of the society’s annual journal, Archaeologia Cantiana, will also consider publishing articles based on the various submissions.

To register interest, candidates for the Thirsk Prize should, in the first instance, send a brief abstract of their MA dissertation to Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh by 31st October. The final date for submissions is 30th November.

Dissertations must be submitted in Word format and emailed to Dr Sweetinburgh. The submission should include an abstract and be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from the dissertation supervisor together, where appropriate, with the names and the institutions of the examiners of the dissertation.

All candidates for the prize will be notified of the judges’ decision as soon as is feasible. The editor of Archaeologia Cantiana would welcome article-length (c.8,000 words) submissions from Thirsk Prize applicants.