The Society wishes to recognise and celebrate the outstanding work in architectural history being carried out by students on taught Masters-level courses in UK universities (including final-year students on Scottish MA (Hons) degrees). With this aim in mind, the Dissertation Prize is framed to encourage innovative and critical thinking in and around the subject, either by the pursuit of new kinds and categories of knowledge or else by reassessing and rewriting topics that are already an accepted part of the field. Submissions for this prize can thus take the form of original primary research, critical revision, historiographical reflection, epistemological questioning, etc.
The Society’s definition of architectural history is consciously diverse and inclusive, and covers the histories of building design, construction, practice, urban planning, landscape design, inhabitation, culture and society in all countries/regions and across all periods. The SAHGB is especially open to intersectional approaches that bring together approaches or themes which seek to expand our understanding of architectural history, and which might well include some of these new and evolving research agendas (as well as others):
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minority discourses
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post-colonial perspectives
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de-colonisation of the teaching curriculum
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gender relations
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LGBQT+ relations
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race and space
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disability and neurodiversity
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political critique
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spatial violence and resistance
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environmental and ecological issues
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problematic aspects of built heritage
The prize includes:
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One year of free membership to the SAHGB for the calendar year following the award.
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An invitation to the Society’s Annual Symposium during the calendar year following the award.
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Recognition at the Society’s Annual Awards Ceremony in late 2023.
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Help from the Society towards publication whether in its own refereed academic journal, Architectural History, or in another suitable journal – although please note that publication cannot be guaranteed.
For dissertations by taught Masters-level students on accredited professional architecture degrees, or for those on other taught Masters-level courses that finish in May/June, the deadline for submitting the dissertation/abstract and associated entry documentation is by 5.00pm on Friday 14 July 2023.
For dissertations by taught Masters-level students on courses which finish in September, the deadline for submitting the dissertation/abstract and associated entry documentation is by 5.00pm on Friday 6 October 2023.
Applications can be submitted online. More information can be found here.