Prizes
The University of Oxford has a number of prizes in the field of the history of science, medicine, and technology.
Please find below details of prizes for which submissions are required: the St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) Essay Prize, the Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prizes in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, and the Dev Family Prize in the History of Medicine.
The Charles Webster Prize for the best master's dissertation in the MSc/MPhil in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology is awarded automatically by the relevant exam board.
The Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prizes, Junior and Senior, are awarded annually to outstanding essays in the field of the history of science, medicine, and technology at the University of Oxford. The best submission is awarded a prize of £300. At its discretion, the prize committee may award a proxime accessit prize.
Junior Prize
The Committee for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology gives notice that the Junior Prize of £300 will be offered for competition in Michaelmas Term. At its discretion, the Committee may award a proxime accessit prize.
The Junior Prize is open to all undergraduate members of the University and to those who, at the deadline for the submission of the essays, are within one term of having completed the examination for an undergraduate degree of the University, provided that the Junior Prize shall not be awarded a second time to the same person, nor shall a person who has been awarded the Junior Prize receive on any subsequent occasion a proxime accessit award to the Junior Prize. A person who has received a proxime accessit award to the Junior Prize may, however, be eligible to be awarded the Junior Prize for a different piece of work on a subsequent occasion.
Candidates are invited to submit an essay of the order of 10,000 to 15,000 words, on a topic concerning the history of science or technology (construed broadly, to include the history of medicine, and the history of the natural world and environment). Candidates are advised to state the principal sources whence their information has been obtained. Candidates are to note that essays should be specifically historical in their approach and versions of essays previously submitted as undergraduate dissertations should be revised in order to meet the specifications of the Prize. Candidates are encouraged to contact the coordinator of the prize, at kirkaldy@history.ox.ac.uk, for further guidance prior to submitting.
The prize money shall be spent on books, unless the express consent of the Committee for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology is given to the contrary.
Essays should be emailed to the coordinator of the Prize, at kirkaldy@history.ox.ac.uk, no later than Friday, Week 8 Trinity Term.
A copy of the entry that wins the Junior Prize is to be deposited in the library of the History of Science Museum