Bloomsbury Academic and the Institute of Historical Research are happy to announce an Inclusive Histories partnership, that seeks to improve the publishing opportunities available for early-career history researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds. This new annual initiative will support recent PHD students, from anywhere in the world, in developing their thesis into a Bloomsbury monograph. It offers an online workshop on how to develop a book proposal and the opportunity for shortlisted book proposals – selected by an IHR panel – to receive full peer review.
The most successful proposal will be awarded a project completion grant of £500 (to be spent as the author chooses, on resources or expenses to enable them to complete the book) in addition to a Bloomsbury contract. We hope that this initiative will also help all participants to strengthen their book proposals and move a step closer to publication. The initiative is open to recent PhD students who are not currently in full-time, permanent academic positions.
Entry Contents
As well as completing the ‘Personal Details' and ‘Education’ fields, applicants should submit their prize entry as a Word (or PDF) document in the ‘Uploads’ tab of the online form, under the section ‘Prize entry or research trip costings’. The template can be found HERE
Please note that entrants for this prize DO NOT need to upload a research statement or CV. Nor is it necessary to supply the details of referees. (The referee fields may appear to be required fields but can in fact be left blank.)
Evaluating and Reviewing your Proposal
Your proposed project will be evaluated first by the IHR proposal evaluation panel. Shortlisted proposals will then be shared with the appropriate Bloomsbury subject editor who will send them out for anonymous peer review (feedback will be shared with all shortlisted authors). The Bloomsbury editor will consider how each project fits with our current publishing plans and if a suitable market exists that we can reach before deciding, in discussion with the IHR and the Bloomsbury publishing board, on the proposal most deserving of the £500 project completion grant and Bloomsbury book contract offer. Particularly strong proposals which don’t succeed in gaining the project completion grant may still be offered a book contract by Bloomsbury if merited.
Shortlisted proposals and accompanying material that goes out for external review will be sent to at least one anonymous reviewer. They will be asked to comment on the quality of the content and the potential audience of the proposed book. The length of the review process can vary depending on the project but we aim to have new proposals reviewed within three months. If the reviews are positive and there is evidence to support the need for the project, you may be asked to respond to the reviewers’ comments where needed.
IHR Bloomsbury Prize 2025
Bloomsbury Academic and the Institute of Historical Research are happy to announce an Inclusive Histories partnership, that seeks to improve the publishing opportunities available for early-career history researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds. This new annual initiative will support recent PHD students, from anywhere in the world, in developing their thesis into a Bloomsbury monograph. It offers an online workshop on how to develop a book proposal and the opportunity for shortlisted book proposals – selected by an IHR panel – to receive full peer review.
The most successful proposal will be awarded a project completion grant of £500 (to be spent as the author chooses, on resources or expenses to enable them to complete the book) in addition to a Bloomsbury contract. We hope that this initiative will also help all participants to strengthen their book proposals and move a step closer to publication. The initiative is open to recent PhD students who are not currently in full-time, permanent academic positions.
Entry Contents
As well as completing the ‘Personal Details' and ‘Education’ fields, applicants should submit their prize entry as a Word (or PDF) document in the ‘Uploads’ tab of the online form, under the section ‘Prize entry or research trip costings’. The template can be found HERE
Please note that entrants for this prize DO NOT need to upload a research statement or CV. Nor is it necessary to supply the details of referees. (The referee fields may appear to be required fields but can in fact be left blank.)
Evaluating and Reviewing your Proposal
Your proposed project will be evaluated first by the IHR proposal evaluation panel. Shortlisted proposals will then be shared with the appropriate Bloomsbury subject editor who will send them out for anonymous peer review (feedback will be shared with all shortlisted authors). The Bloomsbury editor will consider how each project fits with our current publishing plans and if a suitable market exists that we can reach before deciding, in discussion with the IHR and the Bloomsbury publishing board, on the proposal most deserving of the £500 project completion grant and Bloomsbury book contract offer. Particularly strong proposals which don’t succeed in gaining the project completion grant may still be offered a book contract by Bloomsbury if merited.
Shortlisted proposals and accompanying material that goes out for external review will be sent to at least one anonymous reviewer. They will be asked to comment on the quality of the content and the potential audience of the proposed book. The length of the review process can vary depending on the project but we aim to have new proposals reviewed within three months. If the reviews are positive and there is evidence to support the need for the project, you may be asked to respond to the reviewers’ comments where needed.