{"id":856,"date":"2026-06-23T16:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/judges-announced-for-the-conversation-prize-for-writers-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:03:10","slug":"judges-announced-for-the-conversation-prize-for-writers-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/judges-announced-for-the-conversation-prize-for-writers-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Judges announced for The Conversation Prize for writers 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
From L-R: Steven Vass, Tim Minshall, Catherine Clarke.<\/span> CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Conversation, Curtis Brown and Faber are pleased to announce our three judges for The Conversation Prize for writers 2026.<\/p>\n

They are: history professor, Catherine Clarke; innovation professor, Tim Minshall; and our very own Steven Vass, senior editor for Science Insights at The Conversation. <\/p>\n

Our competition is looking for the best longform article and nonfiction book idea aimed at a general audience from our community of academics. For your chance to win \u00a31,000, publication on The Conversation and mentorship from a literary agent and book publisher, then enter your 2,000-word story and book idea.<\/p>\n

The competition will close on July 5, 2026 at 11.59pm BST<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

About our judges<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catherine Clarke<\/strong><\/a> is professor and director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research. She is a cultural historian specialising in the Middle Ages, but she also works across a broad range of periods on questions of place, identity, heritage and uses of the past.<\/p>\n

Her book A History of England in 25 Poems<\/a> was published by Penguin Allen Lane in September 2005.<\/p>\n

Tim Minshall<\/strong> is the inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, the head of the Engineering Department\u2019s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. His research, teaching and outreach are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation. He is the author of Your Life is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better<\/a>, published by Faber. He lives in Cambridge with his scientist wife, Nicola.<\/p>\n

Steven Vass<\/strong><\/a> is Senior Editor, Science Insights, at The Conversation UK and before that was Scotland Editor and Senior Business and Economy Editor. He was previously a reporter for the Sunday Herald and The Herald, as well as having spent several years as a development volunteer in Zambia and several more as a media analyst in London. He is the author of Let the Music Play<\/a>, published by Velocity, about how synths and drum machines changed 70s and 80s R&B.<\/p>\n

\n

How to Enter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The competition will close on Sunday 5th July at 11.59pm BST.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To enter, please email your 2,000-word article, plus the following information, to uk-prize@theconversation.com<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

Institution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Country<\/strong><\/p>\n

Email<\/strong><\/p>\n

Telephone no.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your book idea [max 350 words]<\/strong> Please provide a brief summary of a trade nonfiction book idea based on your article. Tell us why this topic deserves a deeper dive and why it would appeal to an audience of non-academic readers.<\/p>\n

About you [max 100 words]<\/strong> Tell us a little about you \u2013 your current role, your area of expertise and any relevant research to your book idea. Why would you be the right author for this book?<\/p>\n

Please disclose any conflicts of interest that should be mentioned in relation to your article or book idea.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2013 please read carefully<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You can read more about what we\u2019re looking for .<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From L-R: Steven Vass, Tim Minshall, Catherine Clarke. CC BY-ND The Conversation, Curtis Brown and Faber are pleased to announce our three judges for The Conversation Prize for writers 2026. They are: history professor, Catherine Clarke; innovation professor, Tim Minshall; and our very own Steven Vass, senior editor for Science Insights at The Conversation. Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}