Description

Your contribution will help launch the SWMHS Research Prize, encouraging new writing in maritime history.

• Mike Duffy has generously donated £5,000 to establish the prize fund and give the scheme its start.
• The prize will support new maritime history writing based on original research, not work relying mainly on secondary sources.
• Eligibility will be broad: students, independent researchers, local historians, emerging scholars and SWMHS members may all be eligible.
• The key test will be the quality of the research and writing, not whether the entrant is attached to a university.
• Prize-winning and commended work may be considered for publication in the South West Maritime History Society journal – Maritime South West, or other SWMHS publications.
• The prize will be carefully governed: Mike Duffy will chair the awards board, supported by SWMHS trustees and external advisers.
• The awards board will include at least one suitably qualified adviser who is not currently in an academic post, reflecting the SWMHS’s commitment to high-quality research inside and outside universities.
• SWMHS prizes have had real impact in the past, helping promising researchers take their work further; this new prize aims to do the same for current and future maritime historians.
• SWMHS trustees have agreed to use some of the Society’s reserves to support future prizes and help build a strong launch fund.
• Every contribution helps us move towards a £10,000 fund, enabling SWMHS to offer two meaningful research prizes per annum.

Please note that …

• This is a voluntary donation to the SWMHS Research Prize Fund. No goods or services are supplied in return.