The Society for Modern Greek Studies proudly announces the 2025 Niki Marangou PhD Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation completed in Modern Greek Studies in the UK. This annual prize, now in its fourth round, recognises the lasting contributions of Niki Marangou, a Cypriot poet, novelist, and painter, to Greek letters and the arts. The prize will be awarded for an outstanding PhD dissertation in Modern Greek Studies. This dissertation must have been defended and formally submitted during 2024 before 31st December, which is also the deadline for applications to be made to the prize committee.

The value of the prize is £500.00. The prize is open to PhD students currently or recently enrolled in any UK University who are or become members of the Society for 2024-25. They must submit their dissertation in English in pdf format (only) for consideration by a committee in advance of the deadline of 31 December 2024.

Dissertations must be defended and formally submitted within the year 2024 and cannot be older. The students’ supervisors will not be asked to serve on the Dissertation Prize Committee, which will be composed of faculty members who cover the specialties represented in the submissions. Therefore, candidates should also submit a cover letter (in pdf) listing the names of their dissertation committee members and asking their primary supervisors to co-sign it. All submissions must be sent to gonda.van_steen@kcl.ac.uk (SMGS Secretary).

The prize winner is expected to be present at the award ceremony, which will coincide with the Society’s Annual General Meeting and lecture (typically in May or early June of any given year). Participants in the competition will be notified by early May 2025.

The Committee’s decisions are final. The Committee also reserves the right not to award a prize if the submitted work is not deemed of sufficiently high academic quality. MA theses are, at this stage, not being invited for consideration.

Faculty members in Modern Greek Studies, broadly defined as covering the arts, letters, history, politics, and culture of the Greek world since the late eighteenth century, are hereby asked to encourage their doctoral students to submit their completed dissertations.

Niki Marangou was born in Limassol but part of her family hailed from Famagusta. She studied sociology in West Berlin from 1965 to 1970. After graduating she worked as a dramaturge at the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, and she also ran a bookshop in Nicosia. A gifted painter, she staged multiple solo exhibitions. She authored poetry, fiction, translation, and children’s fairy tales. She was awarded several literary prizes: she won the Cavafy Prize for poetry in Alexandria in 1998 and again in 2008, and the poetry prize of the Athens Academy for her book Divan in 2006. Her work in English translation includes Selections from the Divan (2001) and From Famagusta to Vienna (2005). Her work is currently receiving due attention through the activities of the Niki Marangou Project, hosted at King’s College London (https://www.facebook.com/marangouatkings/).