In honour of our founder, the late Professor Peter Isaac, Print Networks announces the foundation of a biennial essay prize for the best essay in the field of the History of the Book Trade in the Anglophone world.

The Rules

• The essay can be on any aspect of the History of the Book Trade in the Anglophone world during the incunabula or print eras. Papers drawing on research in primary sources and critical, methodological or theoretical essays are welcome.
• Any student registered for a postgraduate degree (master’s or doctoral) is eligible to enter the competition. Early career scholars within three years of completion of their PhD are also eligible, as are independent scholars without a formal affiliation.
• The text of the essay (exclusive of references and bibliography) must be between 6000 and 8000 words.
• The essay must be submitted in English.
• The essay must not have been published elsewhere or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• An electronic copy of the essay (in Word format) must be submitted as an email attachment to Dr Catherine Armstrong, member of the Print Networks committee, by 1 October 2018. C.M.Armstrong@lboro.ac.uk
• Please also direct any questions about the prize to Dr Armstrong.

The Decision

• The essays submitted will be assessed by at least three members of Print Networks’ committee (all of whom are active researchers in the field).
• Submissions will be judged in terms of their originality, depth, scope and rigour and the extent to which they make a new contribution to historical understanding, as well as qualities of style and presentation.
• The Print Networks committee reserves the right not to award a prize in any particular year.
• The prize will be announced in early December via email, on the Print Networks website and will be awarded publicly at the Print Networks conference in 2019.
• The prize will be £200 plus free entry (including conference fee, food, accommodation and contribution towards travel) to the Print Networks conference to be held in Liverpool in July 2019.
• The winning article will also be published in the journal Publishing History.

Previous award-holder was Sylvia Nickerson, doctoral candidate at University of Toronto. Her essay iwas entitled: 'Referees, publishers' readers and the image of mathematics in nineteenth-century England'.