2020 Contemporary Women’s Writing Essay Prize

The journal of Contemporary Women’s Writing (Oxford University Press) is delighted to announce the launch of the 2020 Essay Prize.  The Contemporary Women’s Writing Essay Prize aims to encourage new scholarship in the field of contemporary women’s writing, recognise and reward outstanding achievement by new researchers and support the professional development of next generation scholars.

Contemporary Women’s Writing critically assesses writing by women authors who have published approximately from 1970 to the present, especially in essays that reach beyond a reading of a single text in order to challenge existing thinking or extend debates about an author, genre, topic, or theoretical perspective and relate literary analysis to wider cultural and intellectual contexts.

The winner of the 2019 Essay Prize was Ashwiny O. Kistnareddy (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge) for “Against the Flow”: Exile and “Willful Subjects” in Malika Mokeddem’s Mes hommes [My Men] and Kim Thúy’s Vi. 

Prize

The winning entry will be:

• Submitted for publication in Contemporary Women’s Writing
• Awarded one year’s free membership of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association, including one year’s free subscription to Contemporary Women’s Writing
• Awarded a choice of Oxford University Press books to the value of £100

Other entries of sufficient quality may also be considered for publication.

Entry Requirements

The Contemporary Women’s Writing Essay Prize is open to anyone currently registered for PhD study or within three years of completion.  Entrants may be asked to provide formal confirmation of their status.

Submission

Essays must be 7,000-9,000 words in length.  The deadline for submission is 1st February 2020.  The entry must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.  Submissions must comply with the journal’s Instructions to Authors.  Entrants must submit essays by the standard Online Submission procedures.  Please ensure that you select ‘Essay Prize’ in the ‘Submission Type’ box.

Essays should meet the general aims and scope of the journal of Contemporary Women’s Writing.  Please note that essays submitted for publication will be subject to the standard Peer Review process.  Entries will be judged by members of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Editorial Board and a member of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association Executive Committee.