German Politics

Essay Prize 2025

Deadline - 30 September '25

To mark the 75th anniversary of the UK’s Political Studies Association, the German Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) has created a One-off Essay Prize for undergraduate and masters’ students to celebrate the study of German politics in the UK.

The GPSG will award up to three prizes, each worth £100 in book vouchers, to the authors of work on German politics submitted at a UK university during the academic year 2024/25. Submissions of any length are welcome, including essays, undergraduate dissertations, and masters’ dissertations. Submissions may be conceptual, theoretical, or empirical, but must be solely the student’s own work. We can only accept submissions from those studying at UK universities.

The GPSG invites submissions by the 30th of September 2025. All we require is the originally submitted work in pdf format, accompanied by the contact information of the nominee, whether the submission was an essay, undergraduate or masters’ dissertation, and the institution at which the work was submitted.

The submission should be emailed to Rachel Herring, the GPSG’s Early Careers Officer, at rherr23@aston.ac.uk no later than 30 September.

The co-convenor team of the GPSG will form the panel that selects the three essays for the prize. The winners will be announced in late October 2025. They will be invited to a webinar where the winning entries will be presented to members of the German politics community in the UK.  

Welcome to the German Politics Specialist Group!

The German Politics Specialist Group (GPSG) of the UK’s Political Studies Association (PSA) is an international, non-profit network of researchers who work on all aspects of German politics.

We promote research on the government, public policy, political thought and contemporary political history of Germany. The free membership of our group is open to academics and practitioners with expertise and interest in German politics. Through our events and network we aim to provide a focus for contemporary, innovative and interdisciplinary collaborations. 

Key aim: to foster the study of German politics

A key aim of our group is to encourage the development and professional integration of early career researchers in the field of German politics. We actively encourage young researchers to take part in our events.

Key aim: to offer expertise on German politics

A further aim of our Group is to offer expertise and experts on German politics. For this purpose, we have put together an expert and expertise register on our dedicated website - please visit https://www.psagermany.wordpress.com to find out more.