The results are in! Our 2022 Mitchell Dissertation Prize Winner is Maryam Sikander for her “Oudh Punch (1877-1915): Satire and Parody in the Colonial Contact Zone.” Dr. Sikander’s dissertation examines the transcultural life of Punch in India through the framework of the colonial “contact zone.” Per our Mitchell Prize committee, this ambitious project demonstrates a deft touch in managing the breadth of translation and archival work as it crosses historical and geographical boundaries. It makes a clear contribution to the study of Victorian periodicals and their transformations in colonial contexts.
Honorable Mention
An honorable mention goes to Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills’s “Bards, Priests and Prophets: The Newspaper Poets of the South African War (1899-1902).” Our committee called Dr. Rawlinson-Mill’s project “a beautifully written and methodologically interesting exploration of bards, poets and prophets during the Second Boer War.”
About the Mitchell Dissertation Prize
The Sally Mitchell Dissertation Prize is awarded annually to the best Ph.D. dissertation, defended in the previous calendar year, that explores the 19th-century British periodical press (including magazines, newspapers, and serial publications of all kinds) as an object of study in its own right, not as a source of material for other historical topics.
Established in 2020, the prize honors Sally Mitchell, a longstanding and highly valued member and leader of RSVP. Notably, Sally was a committed and ardent mentor of graduate students who worked hard to support their work and advance their careers.
Thanks to all who sent in submissions for this year, and especially to our committee members who had to choose just one from so many wonderful submissions!