The Mary Renault Prize is a Classical Reception essay prize for school or college sixth form pupils, awarded by the Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College, and funded by the royalties from Mary Renault’s novels.
The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College offer two or more Prizes, worth up to £500, for essays on classical reception or influence submitted by pupils who, at the closing date, have been in the Sixth Form of any school or college for a period of not more than two years. The prizes are in memory of the author Mary Renault, who is best known for her historical novels set in ancient Greece, recently reissued by Virago. Renault read English at St Hugh’s in the 1920s and subsequently taught herself ancient Greek. Her novels have inspired many thousands of readers to pursue the study of Classics at University level and beyond. At least one prize will be awarded a pupil who is not studying either Latin or Greek to A-level standard. The winning essay will be published on the College’s website. Teachers wishing to encourage their students to enter the competition can download, display and circulate the competition poster in the ‘related documents’ section.
Essays can be from any discipline and should be on a topic relating to the reception of classical antiquity – including Greek and Roman literature, history, political thought, philosophy, and material remains – in any period to the present; essays on reception within classical antiquity (for instance, receptions of literary or artistic works or of mythical or historical figures) are permitted. Your submission must be accompanied by a completed information cover sheet. Essays should be between two-thousand and four-thousand words and submitted by the candidate as a Microsoft Word document via an online form on the website.
The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 29th July 2022. The winner will be announced on the College website by the end of September 2022.
