The British Academy presents 18 awards and medals to recognise achievement in the humanities and social sciences.
The British Academy currently awards 18 prizes and medals: [1]
General awards:
Discipline-specific awards:
The Brian Barry Prize in Political Science is awarded jointly by the British Academy, the Cambridge University Press, and the British Journal of Political Science . It was named in honour of Brian Barry and first awarded in 2014. It is awarded annually to an individual or group "for excellence in political science, as displayed in an unpublished essay". The prize is £2500 and the winning essay is published in the British Journal of Political Science. [2] [3]
List of Recipients:
The British Academy Medal was established in 2013. It is awarded annually "for academic research that has transformed understanding in a field of the humanities and social sciences". [10]
The Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies was established in 1923. It is awarded annually "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies", with the area of study alternating between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. [11]
The Derek Allen Prize was founded in 1976 to honour Derek Allen, FBA, who was secretary (1969–73) and treasurer (1973–75) of the British Academy; it was established by his widow and sons to recognise outstanding scholarly achievement in Allen's principal interests: numismatics, Celtic studies and musicology. Although awarded annually, the prize rotates between the three disciplines. Recipients are awarded £400. [12]
The Edward Ullendorff Medal was created in 2012 to honour Professor Edward Ullendorff, FBA, who had died the previously year; its establishment was supported by his widow. Award annually, the medal recognizes "scholarly distinction and achievements in the field of Semitic Languages and Ethiopian Studies". [13]
List of recipients: [13]
The Grahame Clark Medal endowed in 1992 by Sir Grahame Clark and first awarded in 1993. It is awarded every two years "for academic achievement involving recent contributions to the study of prehistoric archaeology". [15]
The Kenyon Medal was endowed by Sir Frederic Kenyon and awarded for the first time in 1957. It is awarded every two years "in recognition of work in the fields of classical studies and archaeology". [16]
The Landscape Archaeology Medal is awarded every two years "for distinguished achievements in landscape archaeology". It was first awarded in 2007. [17]
List of Recipients:
The Leverhulme Medal and Prize was created 2002 and is sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust. It is awarded every three years "for significant contribution to knowledge and understanding in a field within the humanities and social sciences". It is worth £5000. [19]
The British Academy Book Prize (formerly the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding) was established by Nayef Al-Rodhan in 2013. It is awarded annually for "outstanding scholarly contributions to global cultural understanding". It is worth £25,000. [20]
The Neil and Saras Smith Medal for Linguistics is awarded annually to an individual for "lifetime achievement in the scholarly study of linguistics". It was established by Neil Smith in 2013, and first awarded in 2014. [21]
List of Recipients:
The Peter Townsend Prize was created in 2011 to honour the sociologist Professor Peter Townsend, FBA, who had died in 2009. The prize is awarded biennially to recognise "outstanding work with policy relevance on a topic to which Townsend made a major contribution." Nominations are made for "a published work with policy relevance and academic merit on poverty and inequality; ageing and the lives of older people; disability and inequalities in health." The prize is awarded with £2,000. [25]
List of recipients: [25]
The President's Medal is awarded annually by the British Academy to up to five individuals or organisations for "outstanding service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences". It was first award in 2010. [27]
The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize was created in 1888 as The Byron, Shelley, Keats In Memoriam Yearly Prize Fund by Rose Mary Crawshay (1828–1907). In 1914, the fund was transferred to the British Academy. The newly renamed Rose Mary Crawshay Prize was first awarded in 1916. [28] It is awarded annually "for a historical or critical work on any subject connected with English Literature by a woman of any nationality" and is worth £500. [6]
The Serena Medal was established in 1920 and is awarded annually for "eminent services towards the furtherance of the study of Italian history, philosophy or music, literature, art, or economics." [29]
The Sir Israel Gollancz Prize was created in 1924 as the Biennial Prize for English Literature. The name was changed to honour Israel Gollancz after his death in 1930. It is "awarded biennially for work connected with Anglo-Saxon, Early English Language and Literature, English Philology, or the History of English Language". It is worth £400. [32]
The Wiley Prize in Economics was established in 2013 and is sponsored by the publisher Wiley; awarded annually, it recognises "achievement in research by an outstanding early career economist." The recipient is awarded £5,000. [33]
List of recipients
The Wiley Prize in Psychology was established in 2009 and is made in partnership with the publisher Wiley; awarded annually, it recognises "lifetime achievement by an outstanding international scholar and promising early-career work by a UK-based psychologist, within 5 years of receipt of their doctorate." The award is given out to the former in odd years and the latter in even years. The recipient is awarded £5,000. [33]
List of recipients
The Lomonosov Gold Medal, named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarded each year since 1959 for outstanding achievements in the natural sciences and the humanities by the USSR Academy of Sciences and later the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Since 1967, two medals have been awarded annually: one to a Russian and one to a foreign scientist. It is the academy's highest accolade.
The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences and a funding body for research projects across the United Kingdom. The academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London.
The Royal Society of Canada, also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada, is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguished Canadian scholars, humanists, scientists, and artists. The primary objective of the RSC is to promote learning and research in the arts, the humanities, and the sciences. The RSC is Canada's national academy. It promotes Canadian research and scholarly accomplishment in both official languages, recognizes academic and artistic excellence, and advises governments, non-governmental organizations, and Canadians on matters of public interest.
Sir John Lyons FBA was a British linguist, working on semantics.
Harry William Arthurs is a Canadian lawyer, academic, and academic administrator. He is one of Canada's leading labour law scholars.
Edward Ullendorff was a British scholar of Semitic languages and Ethiopian studies.
Sir Richard William Blundell CBE FBA is a British economist and econometrician.
Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA is a Medieval scholar from the United States. She is a University Professor emerita at Columbia University and Professor emerita of Western Medieval History at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. She was the first woman to be appointed University Professor at Columbia. She is former Dean of Columbia's School of General Studies, served as president of the American Historical Association in 1996, and President of the Medieval Academy of America in 1997–1998.
Klaus Dodds is executive dean of the School of Life Sciences and Environment and professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London. He was a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Natolin Warsaw Poland. He is a former editor of The Geographical Journal (2010-2015) and most recently Editor in Chief of Territory Politics Governance (2018-2024).
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Housed in three locations in and around Berlin, Germany, the BBAW is the largest non-university humanities research institute in the region.
The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize is a literary prize for female scholars, inaugurated in 1888 by the British Academy.
Victor A. Friedman is an American linguist and Slavist. He is the Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor in Humanities at the University of Chicago. He holds an appointment in the Department of Linguistics and an associate appointment in the Department of Anthropology. He has published numerous articles in English, Macedonian, and Albanian.
Joni Lovenduski, is Professor Emerita of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London.
The President's Medal is awarded annually by the British Academy to up to five individuals or organisations. It is awarded for "outstanding service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences". It cannot be awarded to Fellows of the British Academy and was created to reward "academic-related activity rather than academic achievement alone". The medals were first awarded in 2010.
The British Academy Medal is awarded annually by the British Academy to up to three individuals or groups. It is awarded for "outstanding achievement that has transformed understanding of a particular subject or field of study in ... any branch of the humanities and social sciences". It was first awarded in 2013. It is the first medal awarded by the British Academy for any subject within the remit of the academy. According to a reputation survey conducted in 2018, it is the third most prestigious interdisciplinary award in the social sciences, after the Holberg Prize and the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research. The British Academy medal is no longer being awarded since 2019.
Sara Binzer Hobolt, FBA is a Danish political scientist, who specialises in European politics and electoral behaviour. She holds the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
The Derek Allen Prize is awarded by the British Academy. It was founded in 1976 to honour Derek Allen, FBA, who was secretary (1969–73) and treasurer (1973–75) of the British Academy. It was established by his widow and sons to recognise outstanding scholarly achievement in Allen's principal interests: numismatics, Celtic studies and musicology. Although awarded annually, the prize rotates between the three disciplines. Recipients are awarded £400.
Andrew Michael Burnett, is a British numismatist and museum curator, who specialises in Roman coins. He was Deputy Director of the British Museum from 2003 to 2013, and Keeper of its Department of Coins and Medals from 1992 to 2003. He was president of the Royal Numismatic Society from 2013 to 2018.
Claudio Vita-Finzi, is an Australian-British geologist and academic. He was Professor of Neotectonics at University College London from 1987 to 2001, and has been a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum, London since 2001. His research is interdisciplinary, and involves the application of tectonics and planetary science on landscape change: this has led to him working alongside archaeologists and climatologists among others. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge.