The French History Article Prize
The Society for the Study of French History and the editors of French History, in conjunction with Oxford Journals, wish to announce the creation of a prize, to be awarded annually, based on articles published in the journal.
The Current Winner
Andrew W M Smith has been awarded the 2023 French History Article Prize for his article:
Ovine invasion: sheep as protest objects and animal agents in the Larzac campaign
The article is free to read online in perpetuity; click the link above to access.
The prize judges also highly commended Venality in town: the civic participation of venal forestry officers in Villemur (1671–1776) by Elisabeth Salje, French History, Volume 37, Issue 3 (2023).
Previous Winners
Previous prize-winning articles are also available free online. Click the links below to access.
- 2022: Lionel Laborie The Treaty of Nîmes (1704): fake news, propaganda and diplomacy during the War of the Spanish Succession
- 2021: Michael Joseph Black women, separation allowances and citizenship in the French Caribbean during the First World War
- 2020: Oliver Cussen The Lives of Merchant Capital: The Frères Monneron and the Legacy of Old Regime Empire
- 2019: Francesco Buscemi The Importance of Being Revolutionary: Oath-taking and the ‘Feeling Rules’ of Violence (1789–1794)
- 2018: M J De Goede Resistance and exclusion in matsouanist narratives of decolonization in French Congo
- 2017: Theo Jung Le silence du peuple: The Rhetoric of Silence during the French Revolution
- 2016: Hannah Williams Saint Geneviève's miracles: art and religion in eighteenth-century Paris
- 2015: Andrew Counter Mingrat: anatomy of a restoration cause célèbre
- 2014 : Aro Velmet, Beauty and big business: gender, race and civilizational decline in French beauty pageants, 1920–37
- 2013 : Ed Naylor, 'Un âne dans l'ascenseur': late colonial welfare services and social housing in Marseille after decolonization
- 2012 : Justine Firnhaber-Baker, Jura in medio : the settlement of seigneurial disputes in later medieval Languedoc
- 2011 : Laura O'Brien, Cette nouvelle transformation du gamin de Paris : The figures of the Mobile Guard and vivandières in popular culture in 1848
- 2010: Mark Curran, Mettons Toujours Londres : Enlightened Christianity and the Public in Pre-Revolutionary Francophone Europe
- 2009: Clare Eldridge, 'We've never had a voice': memory construction and the children of the harkis (1962–1991)
- 2008: Tom Stammers, 'The bric-a-brac of the old regime: collecting and cultural history in post-revolutionary France'
- 2008: special commendation, Joseph Clarke's article, 'Cenotaphs and cypress trees: commemorating the citizen-soldier in the Year II'
- 2007: Jason Kuznicki, 'Sorcery and publicity: the Cadiere-Girard scandal of 1730-1731'
The Competition
The prize is open to historians whose work has been published in the journal, and who are within 15 years of submission of their doctorate at the time of submission of their article. The prize is designed to promote and acknowledge outstanding work from French history scholars early in their career, whatever their nationality.
A panel of senior historians, drawn from the editorial board, will judge the best articles, and the prize-winner will be invited to receive their award at the annual conference of the Society for the Study of French History.
The Prize
The prize is worth £250, with a further book prize to the value of £250 sponsored by Oxford Journals.
The journal has a wide and international readership, and it is hoped that scholars who are at an early stage in their career will gain wide recognition through the publicity provided by this prize.
Upon the panel's decision the prize-winning article will be made freely available online.
For more information
Further information on the prize may be obtained from the editors of French History, Dr Jospeh Clarke: [email protected]; Dr Claire Eldridge: [email protected].
