M.A. Essay Prize

Conditions

• Nominees must be students (or recent graduates) who are receiving or have received a master’s degree that is separate from a Ph.D. program and not simply a degree earned, as a matter of course, along the way to ABD status. This means that potential nominees might come from either a program with just an M.A. or programs where the M.A. and Ph.D. are awarded as separate degrees and candidates are admitted through separate application processes.

• Nominees may be currently enrolled in an M.A. program or within two years of degree completion of an M.A. program.

• Essays may be from any department—History, English, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, etc.

• Essays nominated for this prize may deal with subjects related to the British Isles or with some aspect of the British Imperial/Post-Colonial experience, broadly construed.

• Submitted papers should be no more than 50 pages in length (inclusive of notes and/or illustrations). A longer M.A. thesis may be edited down to fit the word limit. Alternatively, stand-along chapters from a longer thesis will also be considered.

• The prize will be decided by a committee of three faculty members from institutions that grant a separate M.A. degree in their discipline.  Whenever possible, there will be broad disciplinary representation on this committee.

Procedures for Nomination

Nominating faculty must be current members of the NACBS. Submissions must be accompanied by a nominating letter from the professor, who should have supervised or be supervising the M.A. thesis or essay work. Submissions should include the permanent mailing address and email contact information for the student nominated.

MA Prize Committee

Penny Sinanoglou

Pomona College

Karl Gunther

University of Florida

Jonathan Eacott

University of California- Riverside