Critical Writing Open Award

The Textile Society is committed to supporting and developing critical writing within the broad field of textiles.

The Society’s Critical Writing Open Award of up to £1,000 is given for a piece of outstanding critical writing on any aspect of textiles and dress, including history.

The Award is open to all writers (professionals and students). The selected paper is published in the Textile Society journal Text.

This is a biennial award that runs alternate years with the Research Symposium.

The next call for applications will take place in 2022.

Award Criteria

The Award is given for a piece of outstanding critical writing on any aspect of textiles and dress, including history.

All applicants must be individual members of the Textile Society.

Application Process

You may make one application only. Applications should include:

  1. A completed application form with your individual membership number
  2. A written paper of approximately 3,000 words (not including footnotes or bibliography).
    The paper should be research based with a theoretical approach.
    The paper may be accompanied by up to six good quality illustrations, fully referenced.
  3. An additional paragraph of no more than 300 words explaining how the Textile Society could further your work in the future.
  4. A short CV
Important
  1. A working liaison with successful applicants in receipt of an award is encouraged.
    As such, the Textile Society should be appropriately acknowledged and the Textile Society logo should be displayed on all written material.
  2. The successful applicant will have their paper published in Text (The Textile Society Journal) and/or the applicant may be asked to give a presentation at an appropriate event.
    The editors of Text are happy to work with successful applicants to achieve a published outcome.
  3. By submitting images to the Textile Society the applicant grants permission for all images to be used by the Textile Society for the purposes of publicity, including, but not limited to, use on the public website and social media channels, and all other publicity material such as the Textile Society journal Text, News, posters, etc.
    It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all material is fully cleared for these purposes.
  4. The Textile Society journal Text is archived by the British Library.
  5. By submitting images to the Textile Society it is deemed that the applicant grants permission for all material to be archived.
Submission
  1. Documents should be in Word format.
  2. All documents and images should be clearly titled with the name of the applicant.
  3. Please send your illustrated paper and additional paragraph, together with the completed application form, to bursaries@textilesociety.org.uk
  4. Submissions exceeding 25MB should be sent using an online transfer service for large files.
  5. Confirmation of receipt of your application will be sent one week after the closing date. If you do not hear from us, please get in touch.
  6. Applicants will be notified of the outcome within three months of the closing date.
  7. Applications that have not adhered to the above criteria may not be considered.
  8. The Textile Society Committee decision is final.