2025/2026 Roy Porter Student Essay Prize Competition

Deadline for entries is 1 February 2026.

Rules and Entry Form

The Society for the Social History of Medicine invites submissions to its 2025/6 Roy Porter Student Essay Prize Competition.

You can find more information and the entry form on this website.

The Prize

One prize will be awarded for the best original and unpublished essay in the social history of medicine. The winner will be awarded £500 and will be offered the opportunity to deliver a plenary at the SSHM biennial conference. See our blog by previous winner Martijn van der Meer about his Roy Porter winning experience!

If the winner chooses to accept, they will be awarded free conference registration and, if eligible, awarded a travel/accommodation bursary in line with the Society’s scheme (either £240, £360, or £500, dependent on the distance travelling). Additional expenses will be considered but will need to be agreed in advance with the Treasurer of the Society.

Those shortlisted for the Roy Porter Prize will be awarded £100 each and, along with the winner, will be presented with prize certificates.

The winner and any shortlisted entrants will be offered publishing mentoring and guidance and may be invited to submit to the journal, Social History of Medicine (SHM), subject to the usual reviewing procedures. The journal publisher, Oxford University Press (OUP), kindly make the winning entry free to read for at least one year after publication in SHM.

SSHM is also pleased to roll out an exclusive Masterclass for all promising entries – whether they have been named winner or a commended entry or not. A journal Editor will take those entrants selected through the process of how publishing in academic journals works and how to work with Editors, and also offer tips and take questions on maximising the chances of successful publication.

ASSESSMENT PANEL

The Panel will consist of at least four people, including the Roy Porter Prize Chair, one of the Editors of SHM, and other members of the Executive Committee of the Society, with the assistance of members of the Editorial Board.

The Prize will not be awarded if the Panel considers that none of the essays reaches an acceptable standard.

Eligibility

  1. Undergraduate or postgraduate students, part-time or full-time either registered at the deadline for submission of entries or awarded their degree between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.
  2. All entrants must be members of the Society by the date of submission and state their membership number on this entry form. You can join the Society by subscribing at https://academic.oup.com/shm. (The membership requirement may be waived for residents of those nations outlined on the OUP website, including countries in, for example, South America and Africa. Please contact the Executive Secretary for further guidance).
  3. Members of the Executive Committee of SSHM or the Editorial Board of Social History of Medicine may not enter the competition, even if otherwise eligible.
  4. Candidates who are uncertain as to their eligibility should contact the Executive Secretary sshmexecsec@gmail.com before preparing their entry.

Submission Rules

Essays must be:

  1. unpublished and not submitted to any other competition at the same time, nor already have won or been shortlisted or runner-up for a prize offered by anyone other than the entrant’s own university.
  2. original research and writing of the author.
  3. written in UK English.
  4. anonymous (authors must identify themselves only on the entry form stating SSHM membership number).
  5. 5000-9000 words in length (including footnotes).
  6. referenced and style in accordance with conventions of Social History of Medicine, available at http://shm.oxfordjournals.org under ‘Instructions for authors’ [NB keep entries to the competition wordcount specified above NOT the wordcount specified for article submissions to the journal].
  7. not previously submitted to this competition.

Entries for the Prize should be sent to the SSHM Executive Secretary sshmexecsec@gmail.com and consist of:

  1. a cover email stating clearly your name, preferred pronouns, contact details, eligibility for the Prize (see above section for details), where you study/studied for a PhD, and whether you are an independent scholar or university affiliated
  2. this entry form as a separate file (both 1 and 2 ensure your entry remains anonymous during judging). The signing of this form will be taken as the formal declaration of the entry being your own original research and writing.
  3. the anonymised essay as an attachment.

The deadline for receiving entries is: 1 February 2026

Announcement of the Winner

A decision will be made by June 2026 and the prize winner will be announced in summer 2026. All entrants will be notified of the outcome, but the panel regrets it is unable to provide feedback on unsuccessful entries.

For a list of previous winning entries and subsequent articles published in Social History of Medicine see the Roy Porter Prize Articles.

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