First, some words about the 2015 prize run. This year the prize committee consisted of Daniel Carey, Surekha Davies (Chair), Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Peter Hulme, Claire Jowitt and Suzanne Schwartz. They announced the results during the 169th Annual General Meeting of the Hakluyt Society, which took place in London on Wednesday 26 June 2015. Among a number of high-quality submissions, the committee held the opinion that the single outstanding contribution was the essay by Owain Lawson (Columbia University), entitled: ‘Constructing a Green Museum: French Environmental Imaginaries of Syria and Lebanon’. The Society is pleased that Mr Lawson could be present as the Society’s guest at the AGM, where he received a cheque for £750 along with a one-year Hakluyt Society membership.
In addition, the committee also selected two honourable mentions: Amy Bowles (Girton College, Cambridge), for her essay ‘Sea Changes: The manuscript circulation of Sir Henry Mainwaring’s A Brief Abstract, Exposition and Demonstration of all Parts and Things belonging to a Ship and Practique of Navigation’, and Katherine Parker (University of Pittsburgh), whose essay was entitled: ‘Circling a paper world: the global process of producing Pacific travel accounts in the long 18th century’. The Hakluyt Society wishes to thank all contributors and extend its warm congratulations to this year’s winner and runner-ups. We’re glad to confirm that each of the three selected authors has kindly agreed to write a blog post about their research for the Hakluyt Society blog, which will shortly be published here.