The Society for Army Historical Research Essay Prize Competition

The Society for Army Historical Research runs an Essay Prize Competition to encourage, and reward, research and writing undertaken by those in schools and universities. This is done every year by identifying the best student essays written on the history of British and Commonwealth armies. The competition is supported by the National Army Museum, which kindly contributes to the prize fund.

The competition is open to both University Undergraduates and School Sixth Form Students regardless of nationality and country of residence. There are two categories of entry: 'Undergraduate' and 'Sixth Form'. The winner in each category will receive a prize of £300 and the runner up a prize of £100; both will also receive an engraved commemorative glass.

The essay does not have to be written "from scratch"; the Society is happy to consider essays already written, for example as course work, as long as they meet the criteria for entry and have not been published elsewhere either electronically or in print.

The deadline for the next competition is 28 February 2027.

Prize winners and their parents, or a friend or tutor, will be invited to the Templer Medal and Student Essay Prize awards reception. Traditionally, this event takes place in the presence of Society Members every April.

Previous winners have informed us that winning the prize has enhanced their applications for university. One Undergraduate said that his win directly contributed to the success of his application to undertake a postgraduate degree.

Click here for competition rules and guidance.

Click on the links below to read our prize-winning essays:

2026 Competition

• "Locating a legacy: the role of the King's African Rifles in shaping post-colonial political and social structures in East Africa" by Catrin Barrowcliff (King's College London) - Winner, University Competition
• "Churchill on Marlborough: Principles of War from Danube to Dunkirk" by Lucy Graham (Sheffield Hallam University) - Runner-up, University Competition
• "To what extent was Operation Musketeer and the Suez Crisis a turning point for the British Army?" by Ned Buckingham (King's College Wimbledon) - Joint Winner, Schools Competition
• "A Subsidised Success: to what extent was the Malayan Emergency a model counterinsurgency campaign?" by Johnny Moesel (Sherborne School) - Joint Winner, Schools Competition

2025 Competition

• "To what extent were operational factors more significant than tactical factors in the outcome of the North African campaign in the Western Desert from November 1941 to September 1942?" by Olly Hornshaw (Sevenoaks School, UK) - Winner, Schools Competition
• "Did Punch aid the success of the British Army in the First World War?" by Amaya Ciruelos Schoenenberger (South Hampstead High School, UK) - Joint Runner-up, Schools Competition
• ""An avoidable disaster: lessons in British counterinsurgency from the 1920 Iraqi war of Independence that should have been applied after the 2003 invasion of Iraq" by Johnny Moesel (Sherborne School, UK) - Joint Runner-up, Schools Competition

2021 Competition

• "'An Option of Difficulties': The British Army's amphibious role in the Atlantic, 1739-63" by Christopher Conway (University of Oxford, UK) - Winner, University competition
• "Success and Failure of the British North Russia Intervention" by Robert Höhne (University of Hagen, Germany) - Runner-up, University competition

2020 Competition

• "The British strategy in the American Revolutionary War during the command of General William Howe" by Oliver Zwirtz (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany) - Winner, University competition
• "Terror in the Tropics: An Analysis of the British Army's Counter-insurgency Success in Malaya, 1948-1960" by Vivekaditya Sapru (University of Toronto Schools, Canada) - Winner, Schools competition
• "Recognising service in Wellington's Army" by Zeb Micic (University of St Andrews, UK) - Runner-up, University competition
• "Vietnam's forgotten war: Operation Masterdom, the British occupation of Vietnam 1945-46" by William Crane (Oundle School, UK) - Runner-up, Schools competition

2020 Bonus Competition

• "An Exploration of Limited War Strategies: British Operations on the North American Continent 1812-1815" by James Mair (Marple Sixth Form College) - Winner, Schools competition
• "To What Extent Did The New Model Army Change the Course of the English Civil War?" by Ines Mubgar-Spencer (St Paul's Girls' School) - Runner-up, Schools competition

2019

• "Trial by Fire: British Army Centurion Tanks on the Korean Peninsula" by Walter Jeremy Kingsley-Filshie (City of London School) - Winner, Schools competition
• "To what extent was Sir Douglas Haig the most successful British theatre commander in the integration of technology into operational planning in the period from the Crimean War to the defeat of Imperial Japan (1853-1945)?" by Rosie Knighton (The Leys School) - Runner-up, Schools competition

2018

• "Learning Lessons? Fifth Army Tank Operations, 1916-1917" by Jake Gasson (King's College, London) - Winner, University competition
• "The Victoria Cross: Its formation and evolution"by Zeb Micic (Dulwich College) - Winner, Schools competition
• "What was the role of British military costume in creating a visual empire?" Benjamin Sharkey (University of Birmingham) - Runner-up, University competition
• "The Scots Greys at Waterloo: The Battle That Turned The Tide" by Adam Down (homeschooled, Singapore) - Runner-up, Schools competition

Any Questions? Please contact the Essay and Schools Co-ordinator, Zeb Micic at essayprize@sahr.org.uk.