Dissertations on ancient Cyprus can be nominated for CBRL’s 2026 student prizes

The Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) is taking nominations until 27 November 2026 for its 2026 dissertation prizes, open to final-year undergraduate and master’s dissertations examined in 2025 or 2026.

There are two subject areas. The first, Levantine archaeology or history, runs from prehistory to the Ottoman period; the second, contemporary Levantine studies, covers present-day politics, society and culture in the region, among its diasporas and in neighbouring countries. A nominated dissertation must be in English, of outstanding quality, and make an original contribution to research.

Cypriot subjects are eligible. The council defines the Levant as Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, and its publications have long carried work on the island. Joanne Clarke wrote on Ceramic Neolithic Cyprus in its journal Levant in 2001, and the council, one of the funders of the Troodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project, co-published the survey’s results in two volumes of its Levant Supplementary Series in 2013.

The winners are featured on the CBRL website and in its monthly newsletter, and each receives a year’s subscription as a CBRL Friend, which includes online access to the council’s journals.

Nominations go through the CBRL prizes page. In the 2025 round they came from heads of department, each of whom could put forward one undergraduate and one master’s dissertation, sending the nomination form with a PDF of the work and the student’s contact details and letting the student know. Students and departments heard the outcome the following February.