Podmore Book Prize
in memory of Bill Podmore (1933-2016)
The VCLA is pleased to announce the outcome of the 2025 Podmore Prize, for books on Late Antiquity published in 2024. Further prize information can also be downloaded here. Information about Bill Podmore, a much-loved history schoolteacher in whose memory the prize is offered, can be found here.
Joint Winners of the VCLA’s
2025 Podmore Book Prize
Muriel Debié
Alexandre le Grand en syriaque:
Maître des lieux, des savoirs et des temps
Les Belles Lettres
and
John Matthews
From Byzantium to Constantinople:
An Urban History
Oxford University Press
***
Honourable Mention
for an Especially Significant First Book
Jeffrey Kotyk
Sino-Iranian and Sino-Arabian Relations in Late Antiquity:
China and the Parthians, Sasanians, and Arabs in the First Millennium
Brill
SHORTLIST 2025
Sarah Bassett, Style and Meaning in Late Antique Art: Ancients and Moderns on Seeing and Thinking (Cambridge University Press)
Muriel Debié, Alexandre le Grand en syriaque: Maître des lieux, des savoirs et des temps (Les Belles Lettres)
Lucy Grig, Popular Culture and the End of Antiquity in Southern Gaul, c. 400–550 (Cambridge University Press)
Jeffrey Kotyk, Sino-Iranian and Sino-Arabian Relations in Late Antiquity: China and the Parthians, Sasanians, and Arabs in the First Millennium (Brill)
Rita Lizzi Testa, Un Occidente rivolto a Est (455–554 d.C.) (L’Erma di Bretschneider)
John Matthews, From Byzantium to Constantinople: An Urban History (Oxford University Press)
Boudewijn Sirks, The Colonate in the Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press)
JUDGING PANEL 2025
Samra Azarnouche (France)
Susanna Elm (Germany / USA)
Kyle Harper (USA)
Olivier Hekster (Netherlands)
Samuel Lieu (UK)
Additional expert readers: Marco Cristini, Alberto Rigolio, Bryan Ward-Perkins
2025 PRIZE
The 2025 Prize consists of a trophy, personalized with an engraving on Welsh slate; a cash award of £1,000 or currency equivalent; and further promotional opportunities.
PUBLISHER NOMINATIONS, NOMINATIONS & SELF-NOMINATIONS
Nominations for the 2025 Prize have closed.
SCOPE AND AIM
The scope of the subject matter eligible for the Book Prize is as follows:
(1) the period between approximately 200 CE and approximately 600 CE (in the former West Roman world and its neighbours) or approximately 700 CE (further East); (2) social, economic, political, cultural and religious history, including literary and material culture, thus including archaeology; (3) the territories and former territories of — (a) the Roman and Persian empires; (b) those regions and peoples of Europe, Africa and Asia with which the citizens or subjects of the Roman or Persian empires, or the occupants of the former territories of those empires, interacted either directly or via an intermediary.
On the basis of this scope, the aim of the Book Prize is to call some attention to particularly good authorship — in terms of both research and writing — in so far as that authorship addresses the history and/or archaeology of the field, broadly understood.
ELIGIBILITY
The prize is awarded to the author, or authors, of a book. To be shortlisted, a book needs to be a coherent whole, having a singular mind and ‘voice’ behind it. Shortlisted books will therefore, most likely, be the product of research and writing by a sole author. Limited joint authorship — probably no more than two or three persons — might also be eligible; but the authors must, in that case, take cabinet responsibility for a coherent whole book. As there is currently no drought of books that meet these terms, the VCLA will not be shortlisting edited books that are multi-author collections of discrete chapters or translations of previously published books. Members of the judging panel and VCLA employees are not eligible.
The prize is open to authors at any career stage. The 2025 prize is for books with a copyright year of 2024. If the year of first publication (whether physical or electronic) and the stated copyright year diverge, then the VCLA will decide on eligibility, based on circumstances. There is no limit on nationality, residence or language of publication.
PROCESS
Titles are gathered by surveying catalogues, taking soundings from experts in the broad field, and through dialogue with publishers. The VCLA also invites nominations and self-nominations with a closing date of 31 May 2025, and corporate nominations by presses down to 30 June 2025. Members of the judging panel can make proposals — save that the VCLA expects to be informed of any connection to authors. The VCLA ‘desk’ can also suggest titles for judges to consider. The VCLA aims to announce a shortlist of 6 titles in September and to make an award in November.
CRITERIA
The first priority is research that is distinctive for its originality, rigour, and significance. We look for a solid, learned contribution to the field. Actual discoveries should be subjected to analysis and interpretation, and not simply reported. Otherwise, new analyses, arguments and interpretations are all eligible. Works of synthesis are eligible; but these are also assessed for originality, rigour, and significance. This means that surveys that are intended by design to reflect the existing state of knowledge, without a distinctive personal treatment, will not be shortlisted.
The second priority is literary. We make no assumption that we will find work that merits literary prizes, although we shall be happy if we do. Otherwise, we are looking, simply, for good prose. For us, this means that we are looking, especially, for concision and clarity, well-judged diction and syntax, and hopefully a sense of pace. Well-made sentences that flow effectively are abundantly preferable to sentences that trundle and bump. Technical work is absolutely fine; but we dislike avoidable obscurity. If an author shows a sense of style, we incline to welcome this; but judges are free to form their own views about an author’s style.
On the basis of these criteria, we have no interest in the boundaries between ‘academic’, ‘crossover’ and ‘trade’ books. We are not judging sales and marketing strategies.