Applications are now open for the inaugural Tytus Cytowski Rzeczpospolita Prize for the best dissertations on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, its diverse peoples, and its legacies, within the period 1569-1918.
The Tytus Cytowski Rzeczpospolita Prize is open to students of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), and the Departments of History and of Hebrew and Jewish Studies (HJS) who have completed dissertations or theses in the 2024/25 academic year.
Submissions should be made online via a short submission form by 23:59 on Wednesday 15 October 2025.
There are two categories:
a) For undergraduate dissertations (free-standing or written within a special subject): The prize for the best undergraduate dissertation will be US $2,000, and for the second-best US $1,000.
b) For postgraduate dissertations (MA, MRes., MPhil., or PhD degrees): The prize for the best postgraduate dissertation or thesis will be US $5,000, and for the second-best US $2,000.
The prize will be judged jointly by Professor Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski, Professor of Polish-Lithuanian History, and Professor François Guesnet, Professor of Modern Jewish History (or any successors thereof), who reserve the right not to make the full number of awards.
The Prize will be awarded for the first time to the authors of dissertations written and assessed in the academic year 2024/25. The first winners of the prize will be announced jointly by SSEES, History, and Hebrew and Jewish Studies by or on 15 November 2025.