The Society offers an annual prize of £100 to students in the Department of History and Archaeology at Chester University for the best final year archaeology dissertation, preferably on a local subject. 

In pursuit of these aims the Society offers an annual prize of £100 for the best final year archaeology* dissertation at the University of Chester, preferably on a local subject. The author will be invited to submit an edited version of the dissertation for publication in the Society’s Journal. 

At its discretion the Society may award the prize for a dissertation on a non-local subject if the quality of the work warrants it, although such a dissertation would not be considered for publication in the Journal. It also reserves the right not to award the prize if it considers that there are no dissertations of the appropriate quality. 

With their authors’ permission, a short-list of dissertations will be selected by staff of the Department of History and Archaeology. The winner will be decided by a sub-committee of the Society’s Council and announced in the October following submission. 

The winning dissertation will normally meet all the Department’s criteria for a first-class degree. In particular it will: 
• Contain original data or interpretation 
• Demonstrate a broad and deep knowledge of the subject matter 
• Be clearly argued and show mature judgement 
• Be easily understood by people who are not familiar with the topic or period of history. 

For more information, please contact Meggen Gondek 

*  Dissertations that are primarily historical may also be considered if they contain significant archaeological content and the author shows awareness of the difficulties and potential of combining the two types of evidence.