Siegfried Kracauer Graduate Essay Prize
Center for Comparative Media
The Siegfried Kracauer Graduate Essay Prize recognizes the extraordinary contributions that Siegfried Kracauer made to intellectual life at Columbia University during his years as a researcher at the Bureau of Applied Social Research. A pioneering theorist of media, culture, and political modernity, Kracauer's work moved across disciplines and methods, combining historical inquiry, sociological analysis, aesthetic criticism, and philosophical reflection, with innovative cross-cultural media research.
The prize will be awarded annually for an outstanding essay by a student affiliated with the Center for Comparative Media. Submissions are invited on all areas of media, culture, and society. Papers do not have to cite Kracauer's scholarship, but should broadly pertain to the topics he made available for intellectual enquiry: modernity, mass culture, everyday experience, political spectatorship, cinema and visual culture, media and technology, built environment, memory and history, archives and documentation, migration and exile, and the relationship between aesthetics and social knowledge. There are no restrictions with respect to methodology, disciplinary affiliation, historical period, or geographical area.
Open to MA and PhD students. Students should have completed “Intro to Comparative Media” by the time of their application. Submissions may be based on previous coursework or on a thesis/dissertation chapter. The expectation is that the essay was written within the past 12 months. If you graduated during the academic year, you may still submit for this prize.
Each winner will receive a prize of $500.
Submission guidelines:
1. The essay should be properly formatted with references and a bibliography, and between 8,000 words (min) to 10,000 words (max) total. Please follow the Chicago notes & bibliography citation format.
2. Please clearly include your name, department, as well as your year in the graduate program.
3. List the name of one CCM faculty member who could serve as a referee, if needed.
All submissions will be evaluated by a committee of faculty from the Center for Comparative Media.