The Metropole is holding a blog contest for the UHA’s graduate student members to provide an opportunity for emerging scholars to gain experience working through the editorial process. We are excited to announce the panel of expert judges who will choose our winner, who will recieve a $100 prize and a certificate of recognition:

Judge 1: Pulitzer Prize Winner and UHA President-Elect Heather Ann Thompson

Professor Thompson of the University of Michigan may be best known for the prize-winning book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy, but she has also written extensively for publications as numerous and esteemed as The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, The Washington Post, Jacobin, The Atlantic, Salon, Dissent, NBC, New Labor Forum, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post. Thompson is also a prolific #twitterstorian, and regularly comments and retweets on issues of mass incarceration.

Judge 2: Bancroft Prize Winner and Former UHA President, THE Tom Sugrue

You would be mistaken to remember Professor Sugrue of New York University for only his canonical book The Origins of the Urban Crisis, as Sugrue has also written and co-authored works on the Civil Rights movement in northern cities, on what the election of President Barack Obama signals about the history of race in the U.S., and on Americans’ enduring but fraught commitment to democracy. When not working on these longer projects, Sugrue has blogged for Talking Points Memo and published in London Review of Books, The Nation, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Dissent, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Hollywood Reporter, Detroit Free Press, and Philadelphia Inquirer. He can be found on Twitter fighting the good fight against the forces of ignorance that seem to be in global ascendance.

Judge 3: Elder Statesman of Urban Geography and Current UHA President Richard Harris

The list of works published by Professor Harris of McMaster University stretches to 21 pages, and does not include the elegant addresses he has written of late for the UHA newsletter. In addition to his two most recent books–Creeping Conformity: How Canada became Suburban and Building a Market: The Rise of the Home Improvement Industry, 1914-1960–Harris has contributed to Canada’s National Post and is regularly sought out for interviews in publications ranging from the CBC to The Globe and Mail. We are still working to convince him to join Twitter, where we think he would have much to contribute.

We hope grad students will take advantage of this great opportunity to collaborate with an ace team of editors and have their work read by three of urban history’s luminary scholars. Make sure to get in submissions by 11:59 PM on November 26 in order to be considered for the prize.

Blogging is an increasingly necessary skillset for scholars. Blog posts are a useful format for sharing knowledge with a wide audience, from the general public to researchers within the field. Scholars are now placing greater emphasis on publication beyond academic journals and monographs—the Washington Post’s new “Made by History” vertical is a prime example—as a way to teach beyond the classroom, market their scholarship, and promote the enduring value of the humanities.

To promote blogging amongst graduate students and provide an opportunity for emerging scholars to gain experience working through the editorial process, The Metropole is holding a blog contest for the UHA’s graduate student members!

The contest theme is “A New Season.” Posts should take the form of essays that focus on historical narratives or events that signify transformation, evolution, or rupture.

All submissions that meet the guidelines outlined below will be accepted. The Metropole’s editors will work with contest contributors to refine their submissions and prepare them for publication.

A panel of senior scholars will serve as contest judges. Judges will be announced in November on The Metropole.

In addition to getting great practice writing for the web and experience working with editors, winners will receive a certificate and a small prize!

The contest will open on October 1 and will close on November 26. Entries must be submitted to uhacommunicationsteam@gmail.com. Posts will run on the blog in November and December, and we will announce the winners in January.  Finalists will have their papers reviewed by award winning historians Heather Ann Thompson, Tom Sugrue, and Richard Harris. The winning blog post will receive $100.

Contest Guidelines

1. Contest entrants must be enrolled in a graduate program.
2. Contest entrants must be members of the UHA. A one-year membership for graduate students costs only $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 in the form of an essay related to the theme, “A New Season.” Essays can be about current research, historiography, or traveling as a historian.
5. Posts must be received by the editors (uhacommunicationsteam@gmail.com) by November 26 at 11:59 PM EST to be eligible for the contest.
6. Posts should be at least 700 words, but not exceed 2000 words.
7. Links or Chicago Style footnotes must be used to properly attribute others’ scholarship and reporting.