Deadline: 15 May 2012
The Society for the History of Discoveries announces its 2012 prize essay contest. Founded in 1960, the purpose of the Society is to stimulate teaching, research and publishing in the history of geographical exploration. We now call for essays on the topics embraced by the Society's name: the history of discoveries. Essays may deal with voyages, travels, biography, history, cartography, techniques and technology, or other aspects of discovery. The primary purpose is to enlighten the reader on some aspect of the exploration of our world.
ELIGIBILITY: A post-secondary (college or university) student from any part of the world who will not have received a doctoral degree before May 15, 2012 is eligible to enter the contest.
THE ESSAY: The essay (research paper) shall be original and unpublished, in the English language and of no more than 6,000 words, including footnotes or endnotes. Papers previously submitted for class assignments are encouraged. A reasonable amount of illustrative and tabular material will be welcome. The essay must be typed using a standard font (Times, Palatino, Century), double-spaced and printed on one side of the paper. Do not place the author's name on the pages of text. Include a cover page that lists the name, mailing address and e-mail address of the student, the college or university, and the student's current status, i.e., sophomore, junior, 1st year MA, etc.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Essays must be postmarked on or before May 15, 2012.
The award-winning essay will be evaluated by a panel of judges from the Society for the History of Discoveries. The panel's decision will be announced after June 1, 2012.
JUDGING CRITERIA: Primary consideration will be given to the essay's originality and its contribution to new knowledge and insights. Other considerations will be the author's demonstration of the relevance of the subject, the cogency of the presentation and the documentation, and the stylistic quality of the essay. In the case of a tie, two awards may be given at the discretion of the judges. If no submission is judged to be either appropriate or sufficiently meritorious, the Society reserves the right to make no award.
NOTE: Submissions will be disqualified if: a) their subject is not relevant to the history of discoveries as outlined above or to the general history of geographic exploration; b) adequate and appropriate citations (foot/endnotes) are not included c) the author is not currently enrolled as an undergraduate or enrolled in or accepted to a graduate program at the time of submission.
THE AWARD. The winner will receive a prize of $600. The winner will be invited to make an oral presentation about the paper at the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries. The 2012 meeting will be held at the Huntington Library/Pasadena, California, from September 27-30. Additionally, the winner will be invited to submit the essay for publication in the Society's journal, Terrae Incognitae.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: Contact Professor Urness - E-Mail: curness@msn.com Tel: (612) 788-6570 Fax: (612) 626-9353. Professor Urness and Dr. Ragnow are the prize committee co-chairs. You also may reach Dr. Ragnow at editor@sochistdisc.org or 612/624-6895.
For submissions: By e-mail, send to: Professor Carol Urness, curness@msn.com. By post, send to: Dr. Marguerite Ragnow, SHD Prize Essay Contest, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota, 309 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A. E-mail submissions are preferred.
Website: http://www.sochistdisc.org