BRITISH RECORDS ASSOCIATION: JANETTE HARLEY PRIZE

The British Records Association is pleased to announce that entry to the 2024 Janette Harley Prize is now open. The prize, awarded in memory of Janette Harley (1951-2015), is intended to generate interest in archives, and raise awareness of research and achievements in the world of archives. Applications should be received by the BRA Secretary secretary(at)britishrecordsassociation.org.uk not later than 31 July 2024. The winning entry will be announced in November. We hope to be able to hold the Harley Prizegiving on the same evening as the BRA’s annual Maurice Bond Memorial Lecture, early in 2025.

  1. A prize of £500 will be awarded to individuals or organisations for the best/most original piece of work published in a monograph, journal or magazine, or otherwise made publicly available (such as a website or blog series), which has promoted “the preservation, understanding, accessibility or study of archives”, the aims of the BRA.
  2. Applications are welcomed from individuals, on their own behalf or on behalf of others, and from representatives of organisations. The prize will be available to anyone, including archivists, local historians, academics, genealogists and conservators. The judges are particularly keen to receive more applications from conservators and local historians.
  3. Applicants must submit for consideration a specific piece of work which has been published or is available in the public domain (such as a website or blog series), during the past three years (i.e. from 2021 onwards).
  4. There is no application form, but applicants should explain in not more than 750 words why the piece of work being nominated is important, and worthy of the prize. Such supporting material should be submitted electronically. To aid future planning and publicity, it will be helpful if applicants can also state how they came to know of the Prize.
  5. All applications should be made by email with attachments, and should include an electronic version of the piece of work if published in a monograph, journal or magazine; a link to a blog; or other appropriate supporting material to help the judges access the work. All applications will be acknowledged. Hard copy applications will not be accepted.
  6. In order to encourage new work in archives, it is regretted that the same piece of work cannot be submitted more than once. However the judges will have the power to hold over unsuccessful applications of a very high standard, once only, to the year immediately following, in case the competition in that following year should prove to be weak. Any applications held over will still need to have been published or made available within three years of the year to which they have been held over.
  7. Entries will be judged by a panel chosen by the BRA.
  8. The prize winner will be invited to contribute an article to Archives, the journal of the BRA, explaining their work and its interest to BRA members, and any further information which they may wish to add.
  9. No member of Council or member of the panel will be eligible for the prize.
  10. The decision of the panel will be final.