British Academy’s prizes and medals celebrate achievements in humanities and social sciences

The British Academy today awards prizes and medals to distinguished academics in the humanities and social sciences for lifelong contributions to their disciplines and for several notable achievements in the last year, including a “highly original” essay presenting a theoretical framework for the permissibility of rioting against injustice and a recent literary biography representing a “major achievement” in the study of one of England’s favourite poets.

In recognition of the accomplishments of leading scholars in Classics, Theology and Religious Studies, Linguistics, Archaeology, History and many more fields, the British Academy today awards:

• The Brian Barry Prize in Political Science, in partnership with Cambridge University Press and the British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS), to Dr Jonathan Havercroft, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton, for his essay ‘Why is there no just riot theory?’. This winning essay will be published in the British Journal of Political Science.
• The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize to Chaucer: A European Life (Princeton, 2019) by Wolfson History Prize nominee Marion Turner, Associate Professor of English at the University of Oxford.
• The Derek Allen Prize to Dr Andrew Burnett FBA in recognition of outstanding contributions to the study of coinage of the Roman Empire and a career of public service including as Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals and Deputy Director at the British Museum.
• The Kenyon Medal for work in the fields of classical studies and archaeology to Professor Dame Averil Cameron FBA FSA FRHistS, Professor Emeritus of Late Antique and Byzantine History and Former Warden of Keble College at the University of Oxford, and one of the most distinguished historians of late antiquity and Byzantium.
• The Landscape Archaeology Medal to Professor Keith Branigan, Emeritus Professor at the University of Sheffield, for his distinguished and varied career with many notable achievements in the study of Roman Britain and the prehistory of the Aegean.
• The Grahame Clark Medal to Dr Frances Healy, a leading specialist in the study of the British Neolithic and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University.
• The Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies to Professor Beverley Roberts Gaventa, Distinguished Professor at Baylor University and specialist in the theological and historical interpretation of the letters of Paul.
• The Edward Ullendorf Medal to Professor Otto Jastrow, Professor of Arabic at Tallinn University and one of the world’s leading scholars in the fields of Arabic and Neo-Aramaic.
• The Neil and Saras Smith Medal for a lifetime of achievement in the field of Linguistics to Professor Paul Kiparsky, Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, who is best known for his research on Phonology and Historical Linguistics.
• The Serena Medal to Professor Jill Kraye, Emeritus Professor of the History of Renaissance Philosophy and Librarian at the Warburg Institute, for her scholarship on Renaissance philosophy and humanism and the later European influence of classical philosophy.

Professor Sir David Cannadine, historian and President of the British Academy, said:

“The British Academy inspires, supports and promotes outstanding achievements and global advances in the humanities and social sciences. On behalf of the Academy, I extend my most heartfelt congratulations to each of this year’s winners. Whether through individual accomplishments or lifelong service, these prizes and medals are testament to these scholars’ immense contributions to all areas of life and study. We are indebted to them for their outstanding contributions to their disciplines, for mentoring and nurturing their students and for blazing new trails in a variety of fields.”