The Royal Historical Society invites applications for its First Book Prize, 2025 and Early Career Article Prize, 2025. The call for submissions opened on Monday 2 December 2024 and runs to Friday 31 January 2025. Applications for each of these prizes may be made via the Society’s application portal:
- RHS First Book Prize, 2025, for first history monographs published in 2024 by early career historians who received a PhD from a UK or Irish university.
- RHS Early Career Article Prize, 2025, for history articles / book chapters, published in 2024 by authors who are either current PhD students at, or within three years of having received their doctorate from, a UK or Irish university.
The Society looks to make two awards, in 2025, for the RHS First Book Prize (worth £1,000 per award) and a further two awards for the RHS Early Career Article Prize (each worth £250).
Further information on eligibility and how to submit an application for both prizes is available here: for first monographs and for early career articles.
The 2025 prize round introduces several changes. For the RHS First Book Award:
- the Society moves to a single book prize for which two winning titles will be identified each year. All books submitted will be considered for this single book prize, with no distinction made (as in previous years) for books relating to ‘British and Irish’ and ‘non-British and Irish’ history.
- in 2025, we also move to a system of self-nomination by authors of first books published in the previous calendar year. This replaces the previous application process of submission by publisher. We hope these changes will encourage submission of the widest range of first monographs by early career historians which reflects the diversity of the historical profession and practice.
For the RHS Early Career Article Prize:
- the Society extends the eligibility period to authors within three years of completing a PhD in history at a UK or Irish university. This replaces the previous criterion for authors currently studying for a PhD or within two years of having completed their doctorate.
All other eligibility requirements remain as for 2024 and previous years. The Society expects to announce the recipients of this coming round of first book and early career article prizes in summer 2025.
Details of changes to the 2025 RHS First Book and Early Career Article prizes were first circulated on 26 November 2024.
General enquiries about Society’s Prizes should be sent to: administration@royalhistsoc.org.