The Sylvia Townsend Warner Society is pleased to announce the Mary Jacobs Memorial Essay Prize 2026. The aim of the Prize is to encourage further study of the writings of Sylvia Townsend Warner, in honour of the distinguished work of Dr Mary Jacobs.
The theme for the 2026 essay competition is the title of a conference to be held at UCL on 29-30 May 2026, namely ‘Lolly Willowes at 100: Sylvia Townsend Warner, Religion and the Supernatural’. Candidates for the prize may address any part of this title and need not make specific reference to Lolly Willowes unless they wish to. We are asking candidates to tell us whether in principle they would be able to present a 20-minute version of their essay at the conference (but this will not influence the judging of the competition).
The Award
The prize for the winning essay will be £300, publication in the Society’s Journal and one year’s free membership in the Society. At the discretion of the judges there may also be two runners-up prizes of £100 each.
Procedure
Essays should not be more than 6000 words, including notes but excluding bibliography. They should preferably be submitted in electronic form, or else in hard copy, and should be submitted in two parts – 1) the essay without any identifying details, and 2) a separate document with author’s name, title of the essay, email and postal addresses, and a note about the availability for the conference of a paper based on the essay. Entries should be sent electronically to p.swaab@ucl.ac.uk or in hard copy to The Editor of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Journal, English Department, UCL, London WC1E 6BT.
The deadline for receipt of entries is 31 March 2026. The winners will be notified by the Chair of the Society early in April 2026.
The winning essay will be published in the Sylvia Townsend Warner Journal at the end of 2026.
Terms and Conditions
• The competition is open to all, with the exception of the officers of the Society.
• The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• The Committee reserves the right not to award the Prize or runners-up prizes if entries are deemed not to merit the award.
• Essays entered must not have been published elsewhere or have publication pending.
• The Society will not contribute towards any expenses incurred by entrants to the competition.