Prizes and Awards
The Alastair Buchan Prize
The Alastair Buchan Prize was founded in 1919 in memory of Alastair E Buchan, undergraduate in Arts, who was killed in action in 1917. This award is offered annually for the best poem on a prescribed subject and is open to matriculated students who have attended or are attending any class in English Literature, Scottish History or Scottish Literature. Three prizes will be awarded in September 2012: a first prize of £250; a second prize of £150 and a third prize of £100.
The subject for 2012 is 'Flags'.
Entries should be submitted to Michael Schmidt, Professor of Poetry (michael.schmidt@glasgow.ac.uk), by 5.00pm on 15th August 2012. Please also send a copy to criticalstudies@arts.gla.ac.uk
Last year’s prizewinners, on the subject of 'Borders' were:
1st Prize: Emilia Weber £250
2nd Prize: Mark Ryan Smith £150
3rd Prize: Archie Miller £100
Commended: Calum MacLeod
The Mary McKinlay Prize
The Mary McKinlay Prize is a prize awarded annually on the recommendation of the Head of Scottish Literature, to a student of English and Scottish Language and Literature. The prize is £100 for 2011-12.
The prize was established in 1995 in memory of the late distinguished schoolteacher, Mary McKinlay who had interests in the teaching and research areas represented by all three departments in the former School of English and Scottish Language and Literature.
The prize is adjudicated by the three conveners of the respective level 1 classes in consultation with the Head of School and the Chair of Teaching, Learning and Quality Committee.
The Sceptre Prize for New Writing
Sceptre was founded as Hodder & Stoughton’s literary imprint in 1986, and publishes both fiction and non-fiction. Dedicated to publishing new talent alongside long-established writers like Thomas Keneally, William McIlvanney and Allan Massie, Sceptre has launched the careers of novelists such as David Mitchell, Andrew Miller, Siri Hustvedt, Jill Dawson and Jake Arnott.
To coincide with its 21st anniversary celebrations in 2007, the Sceptre publishing imprint was delighted to establish a prize designed to encourage new novelists to be awarded in association with the Edwin Morgan Centre of Creative Writing at Glasgow University.
The prize, an annual award of £1,500 for a novel in progress, was first awarded at the Aye Write Festival 2008 to Alan Trotter. The 2009 prize was awarded to Fiona Rintoul for Leipzig, the 2010 prize to John Jennett for his work Manadh in 2011 the prize was awarded to Kathrine Sowerby for The Spit, the Sound and the Nest. The 2012 prizewinner is Philip Murnin for Pheonixland.
The winner's completed work will subsequently be considered for publication by Sceptre.
The prize is open to any student gaining a distinction* in their final portfolio, if the portfolio contains between 5000 and 10,000 words of a partially completed novel along with a synopsis of the rest of the work.
*In the event of an insufficient number of distinction portfolios, suitable manuscripts that were awarded a high merit will also be submitted.
The Curtis Brown Prize for Fiction
The winner of the 2011 Curtis Brown Prize was Maggie Ritchie for 'Dreams Carved in Stone'.
The McCash Prize for Poetry
Founded in 1973 by James A McCash of Gallowhill, BSc 1924, in memory of his brother William Martin McCash, MB 1921, and of his sister Margaret Stewart Lithgow McCash, MD 1929. Awarded annually for the selected best poem in Scots on the recommendation of a committee appointed by the Head of Scottish Literature of the University of Glasgow. Any form of Scots Language usage will be considered. The prize may be divided or may be withheld in any year if in the judgement of the selection committee no poem of sufficient merit is submitted. The income for that year will be added to the capital sum. The prize shall not be awarded to any candidate more often than once in any three years. The regulations may be varied from time to time by the Senate in the light of experience.
The prize competition is generally advertised in the spring, and applications must be received by 14th July. Further information to follow.
Last year's winners:
1st Prize William Hershaw £750
2nd Prize E.M. Buchanan £350
3rd Prize Andrew McCallum £200
The Colonel Walter Scott Prize
The Colonel Walter Scott Prize. Funds are sometimes available from this source for outstanding achievement and promise in Scottish Language or Literature, to help enable those awarded to pursue a similar topic at Postgraduate level in the University of Glasgow (please see the Department of Scottish Literature website for application details).
The Andrew Tannahill Prize
The Andrew Tannahill Fund. Small postgraduate bursary awards are normally available annually for Postgraduate students pursuing a topic in Scottish Language or Literature at the University of Glasgow (please see the Department of Scottish Literature website for application details).