Entries are now invited for the 2012 New Scholars Prize. This recent addition to the Society’s annual programme of awards and grants is open to all postgraduates, academics with an institutional affiliation, and independent scholars (but not undergraduates) who have been published no more than once in a peer-reviewed journal.

Content should be aligned to the aims of the Society for Theatre Research, and concerned with the history and technique of the British Theatre; the word ‘theatre’ may include performance work such as popular and community performance, music theatre, live art, and devised and site-based performance, and may include very recent theatre as well as activities that go on in theatre buildings, theatrical activities outside theatres, professional and amateur theatre, the business of theatre, stage design, the history of theatre buildings, acting technique, or of theatre outside the British Isles that relates as well as activities that go on in theatre buildings, theatrical activities outside theatres, professional and amateur theatre, the business of theatre, stage design, the history of theatre buildings, acting technique, or of theatre outside the British Isles that relates directly to the history and technique of the British Theatre.

The essay should be no longer than 4000 words long and should follow the scholarly conventions used by Theatre Notebook.

Essays will be read double blind by an anonymous panel of scholars. The panel’s decision will be made by the end of December 2012. The prize will be one year’s honorary membership of the Society for Theatre Research (which includes a year’s subscription to Theatre Notebook), a monetary prize of £100, and the award of three books from the Society’s catalogue. The runner-up will receive a monetary prize of £50 and copies of these books. In addition, consideration will be given to publication of the winning essay in Theatre Notebook.

The closing date for the 2012 competition is Friday 14 September 2012.

Essays should be sent as an attachment to newscholarsprize@str.org.uk. In a covering email, each entrants should include a brief biography and a confirmation that he/she is eligible to submit an entry for the prize.

More about the New Scholars’ Prize…