2014 Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture Essay Competition

The Editors of British Naval History are pleased to announce the 2014 Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture Essay Competition, with the support of the Society for Nautical Research, the Naval Review, and the Britannia Naval Research Association. The AVML Essay Competition is designed with four goals:

1) To encourage the study of maritime and naval history at the Postgraduate level.
2) To provide an opportunity for Postgraduate students to publish a mid-length academic research paper.
3) To provide an opportunity for Postgraduate students to become known to, and involved with, several non-University naval and maritime history research associations.
4) To provide an opportunity for graduate students to communicate, and receive feedback on, the current form of their argument or analysis.

Brief:

Entries to the 2014 Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture Essay Competition are to:

1) Address an aspect of naval or maritime history, or related fields with a maritime or naval focus.
2) Be the result of primary source research, either archival sources or hands-on research.
3) Focus on analysis and the communication of an argument.
4) Be no longer than 5,000 words including endnotes. Captions for images (of a reasonable length) need not be included in the wordcount.
5) Comply with the British Naval History Style Guide

To Qualify:

1) Entries must be submitted by Friday, 13 June 2014.
2) Author must be a current Postgraduate student (MA, PhD or equivalent), or have completed their programme no earlier than January 1st 2014.
3) Entries must be submitted in a Microsoft Word format (.doc, or .docx)
4) Entries must be accompanied by a reference from the author’s academic supervisor or equivalent.
5) Entries must be submitted by email to submissions@globalmaritimehistory.com

All entries to the AVML Essay Contest will be published on British Naval History beginning in July 2014. The essays will be adjudicated by a committee composed of representatives from the sponsoring organisations. The entries will be evaluated on the research, analysis and the expression of the argument.  A short list will be released on Monday, 4 August 2014 and the successful entrant and essay announced on Monday, 11 August 2014. The primary award is the opportunity to present the Postgraduate lecture at the 2014 Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture, 1 October 2014 at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. In addition, a bursary of up to £600 will be awarded to compensate against travel expenses to Oxford. In addition, the winning entry will be published in either Mariner’s Mirror, the Naval Review or BNRA Journal, in addition to British Naval History. Professor NAM Rodger of All Souls, Oxford will be provide the keynote lecture ‘The German Submarine War, 1914-1918′.

With the approaching centenary, it is understood that many conferences, seminars and special lectures will address the First World War, but it is not a required topics for the 2014 Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture Essay Competition. It is strongly advised that entrants submit a paper related to their thesis or primary research topic. British Naval History promotes the publication and discussion of works-in-progress, and they are encouraged as entries for the essay contest.