Janette Harley Prize 2026

The British Records Association (BRA) is delighted to announce that entry to the 2026 Janette Harley Prize is now open.

The prize is intended to generate interest in archives, and raise awareness of research and achievements in the world of archives. It is open to applications from archivists, conservators, owners of archives, and researchers, including academic researchers, local historians and genealogists. The judges are particularly keen to receive more entries from conservators and local historians.

Submissions do not need to have been published in hard copy. They can include electronic publications, blogs and other online means of promoting archives.

*A prize of £500 will be awarded to the winning entry*

Previous winners of the Harley Prize:

• 2025: Frank Meeres (editor), Socialism in King’s Lynn and Suffragism in Great Yarmouth: Minutes of the King’s Lynn Socialist and Labour Societies, 1897-1916, and Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Great Yarmouth Women’s Suffrage Society, 1909-1915 (Norfolk Record Society vol. LXXXVIII, 2024)
• 2024: Dr Eliza Wheaton (editor), for Loving and Obedient? Family Correspondence of the Mores of Loseley Park, 1537-1686 (Surrey Record Society vol. XLVIII, 2023)

• 2023: the Prize was shared between two entries: Dr Ian Forrest and Christopher Whittick (translators and editors), for The Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397 (Canterbury & York Society, vol. CXI, 2021); and Dr Imogen Peck (Birmingham University), for “‘Of no sort of use’?: Manuscripts, Memory, and the Family Archive in Eighteenth Century England” (Cultural and Social History, vol. 20:2 for 2023, pp.183-204), and the accompanying blog series and online resources, https://family-archives.co.uk part of the Family Archives in Early Modern England research project supported by the Leverhulme Trust.

The closing date for entries to the 2026 Janette Harley Prize is 31 July. We hope to announce the winning entry in January 2027, and to present the prize on the same evening as the annual Maurice Bond Lecture, in Spring 2027.

Terms and conditions and further details about how to apply can be found on the BRA website.

For any queries and to submit entries email the secretary.