IAMHIST Challenge 2021

The International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST) is an organization of scholars, filmmakers, broadcasters and archivists dedicated to historical inquiry into film, radio, television, and related media.

We encourage scholarly research into the relationship between history and the media, as well as the production of historically informed documentaries, audio-visual essays, television series, podcasts, websites and other media texts. We actively support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and Early Career Media Practitioners (ECMP) through a suite of IAMHIST activities including our annual master class, special events for graduate students at IAMHIST conferences, and awards for scholars/media professionals at the start of their careers.

In 2020, the IAMHIST board launched a biennial IAMHIST Challenge for ECRs/ECMPs who are interested in organising a local event on a media-and-history topic. This can be a one-day symposium, a master class, a workshop or other comparable activity. The aims of the Challenge Scheme are two-fold: to explore and/or showcase new and innovative research, practice and methodologies in the field; to support researchers to develop further their professional networks and their acquisition of research-related and transferable skills.

Eligibility Criteria

The Challenge Scheme is open to MA and PhD students, and colleagues who identify as ‘Early Career’. IAMHIST generally defines ‘early career’ as within 5 years of PhD award (or similar professional training), but is flexible in its interpretation of the category. Anyone who is currently registered as a graduate student or holds an academic post in a higher education institution is eligible to apply.

Proposals should demonstrate their originality and relevance to the field of media and history. A selection committee, assigned by the Executive Council of IAMHIST, will select a maximum of TWO proposals and issue each with a grant of up to 1,500 USD.

How to Apply (Proposals must be submitted on the official Challenge Application form, which can be downloaded here: IAMHIST Challenge 2021 Application Form.

Proposals (max 2,500 words) should include

  • A concise project title.
  • A short introduction on the topic and its relevance to the field of media and history.
  • The proposed date on which the event will take place.
  • A preliminary practical outline of the event: line-up of invited speakers, what their contribution will be (paper, keynote, coaching etc), debates and roundtables, hands-on session.
  • A preliminary budget (incl. any additional funding you might have). The budget should make clear the amount of money you would expect from IAMHIST (up to a max. 1,5000 USD) and how the grant will be used.
  • The composition of the scientific and organizing committee (if applicable).
  • A rationale – give a clear explanation about why IAMHIST should sponsor the event.
  • An official letter of institutional support (not included in the word limit), written by the Graduate School programme director or, if ECR, Director of Research for your School/Department. This should attest the applicant’s ability to successfully carry out the event and confirm the institution’s support.
  • A short CV and contact details of the applicant/s (not included in the word limit).

Timescale

Call for proposals will be launched February 28st 2021. Proposals should be sent to IAMHIST Director of the Challenge Scheme Dr Melanie Bell (m.j.bell@leeds.ac.uk) by May 30th, 2021. The winner(s) will be notified by June 30th 2021. The event needs to take place before December 30, 2022.

Regulations IAMHIST Challenge

  1. We welcome proposals on a wide variety of media historical topics.
  2. The principal initiator of the event should be a grad. student or early career researcher. You can only apply as a postgraduate student (Masters/PhD) and/or in the first 5 years after obtaining your PhD. Early career media professionals are equally eligible.
  3. Individual applicants and/or their institutions should be IAMHIST members.
  4. Proposals should be in tune with the IAMHIST mission to encourage and facilitate research in the use of audio-visual media and materials as sources for the study of history and the social sciences, including research into the development and impact of audio-visual media in mass communication, to further research into the use of audio-visual media and materials at all levels of historical education; to improve the preservation of audio-visual materials as documents and to improve access to archival institutions and collections housing audio-visual materials, to promote the international exchange of information and the development of international projects within its field of interest.
  5. The event should take place within 12 months of the initial deadline for proposals.
  6. If, in the course of the organizational process, the event changes substantially and no longer abides to the rules set for the IAMHIST challenge, IAMHIST retains the right to withdraw its support.
  7. The event should be branded as an IAMHIST event and the IAMHIST Challenge logo should be used on all public documents regarding the event. The event will be advertised through the IAMHIST website and social media (contact the IAMHIST social media contact Dr Llewella Chapman to promote your Challenge event). All information to make this promotion possible should be provided by the event organizers in a timely fashion.
  8. The decisions of the IAMHIST selection committee (regarding the acceptance of proposals and the attribution of grant money) are final. The committee reserves the right not to award the prize.
  9. A maximum of six weeks after the event, a complete financial report (including receipts) and substantive debriefing should be sent to the IAMHIST Director of the Challenge Scheme (Dr Melanie Bell). This should include a testimonial and photographs of the event for the IAMHIST website.

IAMHIST Prizes 2021

THE 2021 IAMHIST- MICHAEL NELSON PRIZE

AND

THE 2021 IAMHIST- CHRISTINE WHITTAKER PRIZE

FOR WORKS IN MEDIA AND HISTORY

We are pleased to open submissions for the IAMHIST- Michael Nelson Prize and IAMHIST- Christine Whittaker Prize for works in media and history.

The IAMHIST- Michael Nelson Prize is a biennial prize awarded for the book making the best contribution on the subject of media and history, which has been published or shown in the preceding two years. The prize is dedicated to Michael Nelson, whose passion for media and journalism inspired IAMHIST throughout the years. For more information on Michael Nelson, please consult: www.michaelnelsonbooks.com.

The IAMHIST – Christine Whittaker Prize is a biennial prize awarded for the radio or television program or series, film, DVD, CD-ROM, or URL making the best contribution on the subject of media and history, which has been produced and released in the preceding two years. The prize is dedicated to Christine Whittaker, the first acknowledged archive film researcher for the BBC, and IAMHIST’s most influential film and television practitioner. For more information on Christine Whittaker, please consult: https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/christine-whittaker

Each award carries a prize of $1000 USD. Submissions for the 2021 prizes should reach the committee before September 30, 2020. The prizes will be awarded for a publication and (multi) media contribution on the subject of media and history published or produced between September 2018 – September 2020.

The prize was awarded for the first time in 2007, at the XXIInd IAMHIST conference in Amsterdam. The winner was Wendy Webster, for her book Englishness and Empire, 1939-1965. Thanks to an especially strong field of entries, two winners were chosen in 2009: Reconstructing American Historical Cinema from Cimmaron to Citizen Kane, by J. E. Smyth and Voices in Ruins: German Radio and National Reconstruction in the Wake of Total War, by Alexander Badenoch. Both works were cited by the prize committee as making outstanding contributions to the field, based on excellence of research, originality, accessibility, and scholarly usefulness. In 2011, the prize was awarded to It’s the Pictures that Got Small: Hollywood Film Stars on 1950s Television, by Christine Becker. In 2013, the first year of the multi-media prize, the recipients were: J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood’s Cold, by James Sbardellati (book), and The Media History Digital Library (multi-media). In 2015, the recipients were How it Feels to be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement, by Ruth Feldstein (book) and Brave Little Belgium, produced by VRT (multi-media). In 2017, the sole recipient was Shelley Stamp’s Lois Weber in Early Hollywood. In 2019, the sole recipient was Susan Murray’s Bright Signals: A History of Color Television.

Rules of the Michael Nelson and Christine Whittaker prizes:

  1. The prizes are awarded biennially.
  2. Invitations for submissions and names of the winners will be published in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, on the IAMHIST website, on flyers displayed in the universities of teaching members of IAMHIST, and by letters to appropriate bodies.
  3. The prizes will be awarded (1) for the book and (2) for the radio or television program or series, film, DVD, CD-ROM, or URL making the best contribution on the subject of media and history to have been published or shown in the preceding two years (which, for the 2021 prize, will be from September 2018 – September 2020).
  4. Three copies of the work must be submitted to the IAMHIST prize sub-committee chair by 30 September of the year preceding the award (in this case, September 30, 2020).
  5. The submitted works must be in the form of printed text, DVD or CD-ROM. They must be accompanied by back-up material, as appropriate, such as scripts and shot lists.
  6. Works which are not in English must be accompanied by an English translation or an English synopsis.
  7. The winners will be selected by a sub-committee of the Council of IAMHIST, under the chairmanship of IAMHIST Treasurer, Cynthia Miller.

Queries and submissions should be sent to: Professor Cynthia J. Miller 484 Bolivar St. Canton, MA 02021 USA. Email: Cynthia_Miller@emerson.edu

A downloadable copy of the above details for the Michael Nelson and Christine Whittaker prizes can be found here: IAMHIST PRIZE 2021

Call for Papers: IAMHIST Blog – ‘A Day at the Archives…’ series

Call for Papers IAMHIST Blog PDF

The IAMHIST Blog is place for analysing film, radio and television history in a discursive context, and offers scholars working within these areas a space to disseminate their findings, knowledge and research.

A new series for the Blog, entitled ‘A Day at the Archives…’, aims to discuss different researcher’s experiences (from PhD student to Professor) of using a variety of archives and/or museums from around the world, particularly those which may help to contribute to and inform our knowledge of film, radio and television history, and thus work to advertise and highlight useful avenues for historical and empirical research for other scholars working within these areas.

If you would be interested in writing a piece for this series, which is intended to run indefinitely, then please email the IAMHIST Blog Editor, Llewella Chapman, with your suggestions and ideas:

llewella . chapman @ gmail . com

It should be noted that researchers are also very welcome to write about their own research projects for the IAMHIST Blog (separate from this series), and if you are interested in writing a more general piece for the Blog then please let Llewella know.

Please refer to the ‘IAMHIST Blog Guidelines’, which can be found [here] if you wish to contribute a piece for the Blog. For this specific series, the title of your piece for the Blog should be ‘A Day at the Archives/Museum… Name of archive/museum, location’. An example of this would be:

‘A Day at the Archives… The National Archives, Kew (UK)’

Tobias Hochscherf and Roel Vande Winkel have recently published what is hoped to be the first piece as part of this series, which can be viewed here: [link].

N.B. Offering to write a piece for this series works on a first-come-first-serve basis. If the archive/museum which you wish to write about has already been suggested by another scholar, then you will be offered the opportunity to write about another archive/museum of your choice (which hasn’t already been claimed).

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