2024 is the tenth year of the Essay Prize, which has a value of up to £1000. I am immensely privileged to have served as one of its judges every year since the competition was established in 2015 and have acted as Chair of the judging panel for the last three years. Each year the judges read exceptional scholarship, but prospective entrants may be surprised to learn that the number of essays submitted to the competition is actually quite modest. Sometimes we receive less than ten eligible entries, more regularly between ten and twenty, rarely more than twenty. This means the chances of success are higher than entrants might think, especially as we can and do award joint prizes and honourable mentions to mark particularly distinguished work. My experience is that while we might receive small numbers of essays, in general their quality tends to be high.
This year we have moved the entry deadline from the autumn to the spring – to 1 March 2024 – hoping that this later date in the academic year will give entrants better opportunity to develop an essay with support from their tutors, supervisors, and mentors.
So, what is the judging process for 2024? In recent years, a two-stage process has been employed, and this is what we expect to use this year too. In the first stage, the entries are divided into batches which are assigned to a pair of judges. Working in their pair, the two judges read all essays in their batch – which are anonymised − and agree a ranking according to these criteria:
- contribution to the history of travel, exploration, and cultural encounter or their effects
- quality and originality of research
- clarity and eloquence
- thoroughness and accuracy in documentation
- methodological skill and/or innovation.
The top two (or three, if there are lots of entries) essays are short-listed and they go forward to stage two of the judging process where the prizes are decided. Here judges work individually but follow the same judging criteria as at stage one. Each judge reads all shortlisted essays and ranks them independently. Then their ranking and deliberations are shared with the full panel of judges. Lastly, from there, a Judges’ Meeting is convened to discuss and agree the final overall ranking. Judges take their responsibilities seriously, and there is sometimes passionate debate about the relative merits of entries. At no stage in our process do we know the identity of authors – this is only revealed after a final decision is confirmed.
To manage expectations, it’s also worth saying that judges can’t provide individual feedback to entrants, but the Hakluyt Society does inform all applicants of the result. Winners are celebrated at the AGM, where they can pick up their prizes if they wish. I look forward immensely each year to this Essay Prize competition as I always learn a lot from it.
A final word to those that have previously entered but who haven’t won a prize: please don’t be put off – repeat entrants are very welcome though please submit a different essay. I know (because they have told me so) that some of our ‘winners’ were repeat entrants. But also, even if you never win this prize, do keep entering this or similar competitions. It’s absolutely true that you need to be ‘in it to win it’, and refining and honing an essay is great preparation for future publication in a journal or book, whether you ‘win’ the prize or not. Roll on 1 March!
Professor Claire Jowitt, Chair of the Hakluyt Society Essay Prize Judging Panel 2024
The details about the Hakluyt Society Essay Prize competition scope and submission process are available in the Information Sheet on the Hakluyt Society website: https://www.hakluyt.com/hakluyt-society-essay-prize/
