PSi

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Prize

“To assist excellent graduate students (MPhil or PhD) or independent scholars/artists to cover the costs of attending the PSi conference; awarded annually for a successful proposal for the PSi conference program by a graduate student or independent scholar in the domain of practice either as method or object of enquiry or both.”

The Royal Central Prize (£500) assists excellent graduate students (MPhil or PhD) or independent scholars/artists in covering the costs of attending the PSi conference; awarded annually for a successful proposal for the PSi conference program by a graduate student or independent scholar in the domain of practice either as method or object of enquiry or both.  A shortlist of candidates (up to 12) is submitted by the conference organizers to PSi, who then invite the shortlisted candidates to submit an extended abstract (1-2 pages).  Once the extended abstracts are received, PSi forwards the shortlist (and optional extended abstracts) to Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, who then makes the final selection of the award winner. 

Eligibility

Graduate Students (MPhil or PhD) or independent scholars/artists presenting at a PSi conference in the domain of practice either as a method or object of enquiry, or both.

The Prize

The Royal Central Prize of £500 is awarded annually to assist the recipient in covering the costs of attending the PSi conference in the year it is granted.  

Past criteria for judging the prize:

  1. the extent to which the proposed presentation will be a genuine contribution to knowledge in its field;
  2. the appropriateness, imagination and wit of the planned mode of presentation;
  3.  the scholarly rigour of the proposal.

    Adjudication Process

    Eligible graduate students and independent scholars are identified by conference organizers once conference presentations have been selected.  Conference organizers forward the names and abstracts of eligible presenters to PSi Awards Officer.  PSi Awards Officer reviews eligible abstracts with PSi Awards committee and a shortlist (up to 12) is drawn up from the best abstracts according to the criteria for the RCSSD Prize (see above). 

    Authors of shortlisted abstracts are then notified they have been short-listed for the RCSSD Prize and are given the option to extend their abstract (to 1-2 pages) to compete for the prize.  A deadline is set for the extended abstract (usually 2-3 weeks from notification).

    Extended abstracts are received by the PSi Awards Officer by the deadline which are then forwarded directly to PSi’s contact at RCSSD (Broderick Chow) for the final adjudication process. 

    RCSSD notifies the PSi Awards Officer of the selected RCSSD Prize winner.  PSi Awards Officer contacts the winner to notify them that they have won the RCSSD Prize.

    The RCSSD Prize winner is formally announced at the conference during PSi’s AGM, along with the other awards. If possible, a representative from RCSSD is present to grant the award to the winner.

    The election of the RCSSD Prize winner and the financial administering of the award is overseen by RCSSD, with input from the conference organizers and PSi re: the shortlist and extended abstracts.