Church Monuments Society

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Rules & Criteria

  1. A biennial prize of £500 called ‘The Church Monuments Society Essay Prize’ is to be awarded together with a certificate for the best essay submitted in the relevant year. The prize will only be awarded if the essay is considered by the judges to be of sufficiently high standard to merit publication in the Society’s peer-reviewed journal Church Monuments. Prospective entrants will find it useful to look at the journal (if they are not already familiar with it) and may wish to check whether there are any articles related to their topic (see:  https://churchmonumentssociety.org/publications/indexes).
  2. Entries other than the winning one may be published in the journal, subject to the discretion of the editors and peer review.
  3. The competition is open to anyone who has not previously published an article in Church Monuments. We encourage entries from students, early-career researchers and anyone with a serious interest in church monuments. Entrants do not need to be a member of the Society.
  4. The subject of the essay must be a monument, or related form of commemoration, in a church, churchyard or cemetery, of any period or location.
  5. Entries must be submitted in English.
  6. The length of the essay (including notes) should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words, with a maximum of 10 illustrations, preferably in colour.
  7. The essay should be accompanied by a short abstract of about 100–150 words and a brief biographical note of no more than 50 words.
  8. The essays will be judged anonymously. Entrants should avoid identifying themselves (e.g. a photo should be captioned ‘author’). Authors’ names and affiliations should be included in a separate file.
  9. The essay and its endnotes should be word-processed and employ the house style of the journal Church Monuments. A copy of the style sheet is available on the CMS website at http://churchmonumentssociety.org/publications/contribute or on application to the Editors (see below).
  10. Entries should be sent to both Editors of Church Monuments, stating that it is an entry for the Church Monuments Society Essay Prize. Electronic submission is preferred, using email or a file transfer system such as WeTransfer or Dropbox.
  11. Low-resolution images may be submitted with the entry. High-resolution versions will be required for publication.
  12. The closing date for entries is 31 January 2025.
  13. There shall be a panel of three judges appointed by the Council of the Church Monuments Society. The decision of the judges shall be final, and there will be no further correspondence about this decision.
  14. The Church Monuments Society cannot be held responsible for the loss of any material submitted for this prize.

Hon. Editor:

Jonathan Trigg: jrtrigg@gmail.com