RBS Fellowship to Offer Prize for Winning Essay on Bibliographical Scholarship

The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) is pleased to announce its annual Essay Prize for 2025, to be awarded to a scholarly article that exemplifies the Society’s mission of advancing the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects through capacious, interdisciplinary scholarship. The $500 prize seeks to recognize innovative scholarship that brings together multiple fields of study and that strives to be accessible to the bibliographical community at large.

Articles published in any format (journal, edited collection, book chapter, digital platform), in any field, and of any time period are eligible for consideration. The study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects should be integral to the essay’s argument and the evidence upon which it relies. The prize is open to academic researchers and teachers at all career stages, as well as librarians, curators, and independent scholars. The essay submission deadline is 28 March 2025. For more information, please visit rarebookschool.org/sofcb-essay-prize.

The essay prize has been underwritten by Kimball Higgs, an RBS supporter and a graduate of Columbia University’s School of Library Service.

The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) was formed in 2017 as a program of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. Our members seek to integrate methods of critical bibliography into our teaching and research; to foster collegial conversations about historical and emerging media across disciplines and institutions; and to share our knowledge with broader publics. We are committed to creating more accessible, inclusive, and diverse contexts for the study of the material text. See the SoFCB webpage or the SoFCB Junior Fellows Program webpage for more information.