The BCLA is delighted to relaunch the Arthur Terry Essay Prize as part of the BCLA@50 celebrations. The prize, awarded by the British Comparative Literature Association, recognises work of outstanding merit at Masters level. There are two prizes of £200 and £100, and the winning entrants are also given one-year free BCLA membership. Submissions are now open, with a deadline of 31 July at 5pm.
The prize submission could be a Masters dissertation or a piece of coursework. Submissions must be written in English on any aspect of Comparative Literature, of a maximum length of 8,000 words, and have been written in the same academic year by a postgraduate student at Master’s level registered at an institution of higher education in the United Kingdom or Ireland and submitted for assessment within that institution. For the purposes of the Arthur Terry prize, ‘comparative literature’ is defined as the study of the interaction of at least two bodies of literature (writers, genres, etc.), usually across languages.
Further information on the prize and how to enter can be found on the BCLA’s dedicated webpage, Arthur Terry Postgraduate Essay Prize Application 2025
The prize is awarded in honour of the late Arthur Hubert Terry (2027 – 2024) who was Professor of Spanish at Queens University Belfast, and subsequently Professor of Literature at the University of Essex. His particular specialism was Catalan Literature, for which he received many awards, honours and prizes, and he served as President of the British Comparative Literature Association for many years.
