Dissertation Prizes

These awards are made for dissertations submitted for any undergraduate or postgraduate degree or diploma from British or Irish Universities in the previous academic year i.e. dissertations submitted in the autumn of any year are eligible for the prize in the following year. Industrial archaeology is widely defined as dealing with any topic related to the workplace, housing, transport or leisure activities of the working population in the period from c.1700.

Nominations should be made by staff of University and College departments, not by students themselves. Note that dissertations containing a large element of fieldwork can also be submitted for the AIA Fieldwork and Recording Award. There will be two cash prizes of £250 each, one for undergraduates and one for postgraduates, plus free membership of the AIA for one year. Any entry must be the original work of the author, but this would not preclude papers drawing conclusions based on previously published research by others.

• The work should not have been previously published and should not have been entered for any other awards.
• The judging criteria will include: academic quality; originality of thought or topic; illustrations where appropriate; and style and layout.
• British and Irish Universities are invited to nominate one dissertation presented in the previous academic year, but may submit more than one if there is more than one department teaching in the subject area.
• Winners may be asked to submit an article to Industrial Archaeology Review, subject to the approval of the Editors. It would be the author’s responsibility to obtain copyright clearance for material such as photographs and diagrams for which they do not own copyright.
• All entries will be considered by at least three judges appointed by AIA Council. The judges' decisions are final.

The closing date for entries in each year will be 30 October for the undergraduate award and 15 November for the postgraduate award. Winners will be notified in summer and the awards announced at the annual AIA conference, usually held in late August/early September, and on the AIA website. Please send one copy of the dissertation using the attached nomination form to AIA Liaison Office, The Ironbridge Institute, Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Coalbrookdale, Telford TF8 7DX. If the dissertation is to be returned, please attach a self-addressed label: otherwise it will be lodged in the Library of the Ironbridge Institute, which contains the AIA’s library.

Any queries should be addressed to the Dissertation Awards Co-ordinator, Emeritus Professor Marilyn Palmer, University of Leicester, marilyn.palmer@tiscali.co.uk

Staff and students should also note the Peter Neaverson Travel Bursary, which funds travel to places of interest for students and can be used as part of the preparation for a dissertation or fieldwork project.

For a copy of the entry form for this Award please click here.

These forms are in pdf format. A free Adobe pdf reader can be downloaded here.

Entry forms are also available from and should be returned to:
AIA Liaison Office, The Ironbridge Institute, Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Coalbrookdale, Telford TF8 7DX, UK
email: aia-enquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk