Revolution

The Metropole/Urban History Association Graduate Student Blogging Contest is marking its tenth anniversary this year! The blogging contest exists to support graduate students in exploring short form, publicly oriented history writing as a way to teach beyond the classroom, develop marketable skills, and promote the enduring value of the humanities.

This year’s theme is Revolution

We are looking for blog posts that approach urban history from any of a number of facets, including but not limited to: cities driving and responding to political revolutions, revolutionary social or technological changes as emerging from or experienced in cities, and moments in urban history that have “revolutionized” the field. 

We encourage contributors to take full advantage of the blog format in terms of writing that is rigorous yet approachable and in terms of enhancing the immediacy of your topic by including images, using hyperlinks in addition to footnotes, and potentially including audiovisual materials (original, copyright free, or with permission).

All submissions that meet the criteria below will be accepted. Metropole editors will work with entrants to refine their submissions for publication. Entries will be reviewed by a panel of esteemed historians, and the winner will receive a certificate and $150 prize!

The deadline for entries is Friday, July 17th, 2026. Entries must be emailed to themetropole@urbanhistory.org. Posts will run on the blog in September, and the winner will be announced in October.

Contest Guidelines

1. Contest entrants must be currently enrolled in a graduate program. Please include a brief bio with your submission.
2. Contest entrants must be members of the UHA. A one-year membership for graduate students costs $25 and includes free online access to the Journal of Urban History.
3. Contest submissions must be original posts not published elsewhere on the web.
4. Contest submissions must be related to the theme of “Revolution.” Essays can be about original research, historiography (but not book reviews), or methodology.
5. We encourage entrants to read Lessons Learned From Three Years of the Blogging Contest, a digest of qualities that have made past blog posts stand out.
6. Posts must be received at themetropole@urbanhistory.org by Friday, July 17th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST to be eligible.
7. Posts should be at least 800 words and not exceed 1500 words.
8. Footnotes must be used to properly attribute others’ scholarship, reporting, images, and media. The Metropole follows the Chicago Manual of Style for citation formatting.

Featured Image (at top): ”Pulling Down the Statue of George III”, oil painting by William Walcutt (1819-1882), circa 1854. Wikimedia Commons.