The Mediterranean Seminar Prize for the Best Book in Mediterranean Studies, 2026

The Mediterranean Seminar/CU Mediterranean Studies Group announces the 2026 prize for the best first source edition/translation or collection of essays in Mediterranean Studies.
Eligible publications are dated 2023—2025.
The submission deadline is 31 December 2025.
The winner will be announced on or before 1 June 2026.  

Criteria
The entries submitted should reflect the goals and mission of the Mediterranean Seminar, namely, to promote the Mediterranean region as a framework for scholarly inquiry and pedagogy. See www.mediterraneanseminar.org for details.
Eligible books include original scholarly or trade books published in their original language. Source editions, textbooks, translations, and collections of essays, are not eligible.

We are most interested in books that break new ground conceptually or methodologically, are comparative and/or interdisciplinary, that emphasize the intercultural/interregional/inter-religious contact, that are “of” rather than merely “in” the Mediterranean. Although we focus on the pre- and Early Modern, books ranging from any period  will be considered. Books from any of the relevant Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines are welcome, including but not limited to all fields of history, art and material culture, literary and cultural studies, anthropology, and sociology. The Mediterranean is broadly construed as the region centered on the sea, but including connected hinterlands in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the western Indian Ocean, the Near East and Central Asia.

Contest Rules
Books submitted may include both scholarly and trade publications.
Only books in English are eligible. Translations to English from other languages are only eligible if the original work was published within the contest period.
Faculty of the judges’ home institutions are not eligible to enter.
Entries will include copies of the book in question which are to be sent to each of the three judges, together with a statement of nomination (500 words maximum) either by the author or the nominating party. Book reviews and prize citations may be included as supporting material, and we encourage their submission.
Authors must be associates of the Mediterranean Seminar (membership is free).

FIne print
Contest materials will not be returned.
Prizes are awarded and at the sole discretion of the judges and are final.
Contest rules may change at the sole discretion of the Mediterranean Seminar.
Contest entry is at one’s own risk and the judges and the Mediterranean Seminar accept no liability or claim against them connected with the contests.
If the judges feel no book reaches the standards of the prize in a given round no prize will be awarded.
At their discretion the judges may recognize another book or books as “Runner up,” “Honorable Mention,” or may declare a tie with two winners.

For inquiries please contact mailbox@mediterraneanseminar.org.

See prize contest rules and conditions; to enter submit this form.