The BACLS Monograph Prize, The BACLS Edited Collection Prize and The BACLS Postgraduate Essay Prize
Entries are invited for work published in 2024 in the English language on any area of ‘contemporary literary studies’. The working definition of ‘contemporary literary studies’ is to be interpreted in light of the BACLS Mission Statement:
The British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies brings together scholars and practitioners from across the UK and beyond in order to explore the current moment and its contexts. We are committed to literary studies in the broadest sense, including written, visual, performative and audible texts, in English and in other languages.
With the Mission Statement in mind, ‘contemporary’ is not to be treated simply as a period term (like Modernism or Victorianism); rather, the Association’s definition is characterised by a ‘rolling sense’ of the contemporary, and it is this that makes the field different. A corollary of this is that, while arguments can be had over ‘when the contemporary began’, a specific date cannot and should not be set. For a lengthier discussion of the term ‘contemporary’, please see our mission statement.
BACLS Executive Committee members will judge the entries and award prizes to the submissions they consider to be the best in each category. The winners of the Monograph Prize and the Edited Collection will receive £50 each. The winner of the Postgraduate Essay Prize will receive £150.
The deadline for submissions is Friday 23rd May 2025.
Entrants are welcome to send their work at any point before the deadline. Electronic copies are preferred, and need to be sent directly to prize coordinators (see below). Entrants who would like to send hard copies of monographs or edited collections are welcome to do so; however, hard copies will not be returned.
Individual Prize Information
The BACLS Monograph Prize:
Prize coordinators: Dr Yagmur Sönmez Demir and Dr Dilek Öztürk Yağcı; emails: yagmurdemir40@gmail.com; dilekozturkyagci@icloud.com; dilekozturkyagci@gmail.com
The BACLS Edited Collection Prize:
Prize coordinator: Dr Chloe Ashbridge email: Chloe.Ashbridge@newcastle.ac.uk
The BACLS Postgraduate Essay Prize:
For the BACLS Postgraduate Essay Prize, entrants are required to be:
1) either registered for a postgraduate programme in Great Britain at the time of the deadline; or
2) at the time of the deadline, within one year of completion of a postgraduate programme.
Proof of postgraduate student status needs to be sent to the prize coordinator in the form of an email from an academic connected to the relevant course of study. Essays must be between 5,000 and 11,000 words in length and published in a relevant peer reviewed journal in 2024.
Prize coordinator: Dr Liam Harrison; email: liam.harrison@uwe.ac.uk