GIPSON DISSERTATION AWARD

During 2011-2013 the American Research Center in Sofia held an annual competition for its Gipson Dissertation Award, whereby an outstanding Bulgarian doctoral dissertation was translated into English and published for an international audience. Generously financed by the Tianaderrah Foundation (Nellie and Robert Gipson), the theme of each competition was devoted to a different topic. Chronologically, the study fell anywhere between Antiquity and World War II.

The competition was open to Bulgarian scholars who defended their doctoral dissertation at any of the accredited universities or institutes in Bulgaria between 2004 and 2013 and currently resided in Bulgaria. The applications were judged by an international jury of experts. The author of the winning dissertation submitted a revised version, which took into account the recommendations of the jury.

In 2011-2012, the competition was limited to studies on the medieval period.  The award was made to Dr. Elena Kostova’s Melnik during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Problems of Political and Socio-Economic History. The dissertation was published in 2013 as volume 1 of the ARCS Monograph Series. In August 2014 the book was nominated for the John B. Dell Book Memorial Prize by the Bulgarian Studies Association. See news link: http://arcsofia.org/node/487.