The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) welcomes submissions for its Best Article Prize. The prize is intended to identify and encourage innovative and well written research in the field of environmental history of Europe. It will be awarded to an article published in 2011 or 2012. Applications are welcomed from senior and junior scholars from all countries, even though some preference may be given to junior scholars from Europe. The prize will be awarded at the 7th ESEH Conference, 20-24 August 2013, in Munich, Germany.

The ESEH publication prize is intended for an article on any subject in European environmental history and in any European languages. The winner will receive a money prize worth of Euro 500 as well as travel grant (if needed) to attend 7th ESEH Conference, 20-24 August 2013, in Munich, Germany. Applicants are asked to submit their published article (including book chapters that are read as stand-alone work) by e-mail as a PDF-file to rhoelzl [at] gwdg.de. If the language of publication is not English, applicants should include a one-page English summary.

Complete applications must be received by 1 May 2013. The winner will be contacted in the end of June 2013.

ESEH Best article Prize
Dr Richard Hölzl
Seminar for Modern and Medieval History
Georg-August-University Göttingen
Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14
37073 Göttingen
Germany
rhoelzl [at] gwdg.de

The 2011 ESEH Best Article Prize was awarded to Richard Hölzl (University of Göttingen) for his article ‘Historicizing Sustainability. German scientific forestry in the 18th and 19th centuries,’ in: Science as Culture 19 (2010) 4: 431-460.

The ESEH Best Article Prize committee consisted of Stefania Gallini (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), Eva Jakobsson (University of Stavanger) and Tomasz Samojlik (Polish Academy of Sciences).

The Publication prize 2007 was awarded to David Moon of Durham University for his article ‘The environmental history of the Russian steppes: Vasilii Dokuchaev and the harvest failure of 1891′, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 15 (2005), pp. 149-174. The prize which was sponsored by the German Historical Institute, Washington D.C., was handed to the laureate in a ceremony during the conference dinner of the ESEH Biannual Conference on Friday 8th June 2007 at Zoo Artis restaurant, Amsterdam. In his awards speech Christof Mauch (University of Munich, formerly GHI), chair of the publication prize committee, pointed out that David Moon had brought to the attention of environmental historians an area of the world of global significance. He praised the longue durée approach and pointed out that the article was of special political relevance today, as it discusses the role of scientists and politicians in dealing with ecology. The other members of the publication price committee were Fiona Watson (University of Stirling) and Lajos Racz (Szeged University).

The Publication prize in 2005 was awarded to Andrew and Alison Johnson for their service to the environmental History Community. Andrew and Alison own White Horse Press which publishes Environment and History, a journal solely devoted to environmental history. In addition the White Horse Press has published a series of environmental history related books. And last but not least, Andrew and Alison have allowed ESEH to publish its quarterly newsletter, Notepad, in Environment and History. It is for all these efforts to publish environmental history that the Publication Prize Committee felt that Alison and Andrew Johnson deserved the honour of the ESEH Publication prize 2005.

The 2003 ESEH Publication prize was won by the young and promising scholar Stéphane Frioux, a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Lyon, France. Stéphane won the prize for his article entitled, “Assainissement urbain et vie politique à Limoges, 1849-1914″, which was published in Cahiers d’histoire vol. 47, no. 1-2, 2002, 73-92.

The ESEH Publication Prize Committee was very impressed by this very elegant and analytically rich article on a dirty topic. Frioux examines how different efforts to clean up the city of Limoges were articulated, negotiated, and failed or succeeded in the political sphere during the period from 1849 to 1914. The article is based on a wide array of sources, is clearly written, and will enrich not only European urban environmental history, but environmental history at large.

Stéphane was awarded a certificate and a three set copy of the Encyclopedia of World Environmental History, which was generously made available by Berkshire Publishing.