The Society for Army Historical Research Essay Prize Competition Rules

Scope

The Society invites essays of between 2,500 and 3,500 words (inclusive of notes but excluding a bibliography) on any aspect of the history of the British Army or of the Land Forces of the Empire or Commonwealth.

The competition is open to

• Sixth-formers
• Undergraduates
• Regular subalterns of the British Army and those at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on the Regular course.

Prizes of £300 and £100 are offered to the winner and runner-up in each category, who will be invited, with a guest, to the Annual Meeting of the Society held in April each year.

Length and Content

The choice of title is the candidate's own and the Soicety is keen to encourage interest in the wide breadth of the British Army's history. Entries may be essays of argument or research.

The titles of previous entries, shown on the previous page, and the following example topics may provide inspiration to candidates:

• Explaining the success or failure of a given commander in a battle or conflict
• The impact of war or military mobilisation on wider society
• To what extent did [a brigade, regiment, etc.] change the course of [a battle]?
• Soldiers' motivations and reasons for enlistment in a given time period 
• Analysing the tactical or operational performance of the British army [tanks, artillery, engineering, etc.] during [a battle/war]
• How and why did [recruitment, military medicine, honours, etc] change during a past conflict or war?
• The effect of e.g. public opinion, Punch cartoons relating to the army during a conflict.

Submission

Essays must be submitted before 28 February as a PDF via email to essayprize@sahr.org.uk Please ensure that the pages in your essays are numbered and that your name and institution appears clearly on the first page. Enquiries before submission should be directed to the Essay Prize Co-ordinator, Zeb Micic, via email to essayprize@sahr.org.uk

Document Formatting

Essays should be submitted as PDF or Word documents, pages numbered, in 1.5 or double line spacing and a final word count should be included (which includes references but not a bibliography.

Plagiarism

All entries are expected to be the entrant’s own research and thought, expressed in their own words. An essay which the sub-committee suspects as being plagiarised (which includes the use of AI software) will not be considered for the competition.

Referencing

Your essay should include references (i.e. footnotes) and a bibliography. Entrants are reminded that references are included in the final word count but bibliographies are not.

It is not mandatory to follow this guide, but it offered to help entrants in compiling their references and bibliogrpahy and cover all the information required:

BOOK: A. Woolrych, Soldiers and Statesmen: The General Council of the Army and its Debates 1647-1648 (Oxford, 1987), p. 280. SECOND USE: Woolrych, Soldiers and Statesmen, pp. 234-256. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Woolrych, A., Soldiers and Statesmen: The General Council of the Army and its Debates 1647-1648 (Oxford, 1987).

ARTICLE: H.C. McCorry, ‘Rats, lice and Scotchmen: Scottish infantry regiments in the service of France, 1742-62’, JSAHR, 74 (1996), pp. 1-38. SECOND USE: McCorry, ‘Rats, lice and Scotchmen’, p. 45. BIBLIOGRAPHY: McCorry, H. C., ‘Rats, lice and Scotchmen: Scottish infantry regiments in the service of France, 1742-62’, JSAHR, 74 (1996), pp. 1-38.

ARCHIVE: Maj. Fox to Lt Smith, 9 Jan. 1752, Secretary at War out letters, WO 4/48, f. 45, the National Archives. SECOND USE: Fox to Smith, 9 Jan. 1752, WO 4/48, f. 45, TNA. BIBLIOGRPAHY: The National Archives, WO 4/48, Secretary at War out letters.

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