From our Blog
The Katharine Briggs Award 2025: Short List
Published 20th October 2025
We are pleased to announce the short list for the Katharine Briggs Award 2025
President’s Prize 2025
Published 25th August 2025
30 September 2025 is the deadline for entries for this year's President’s Prize for Student Work on Folklore
The Folklore Society’s Doc Rowe Award 2025
Published 25th March 2025
We have renamed, revised and relaunched our biennial non-print media award’ as ‘The Doc Rowe Award’ in honour of his six decades of recording, filming and photographing seasonal events throughout the UK.
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2025
Published 24th February 2025
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2025 are very pleased to announce that three post-graduate applicants received bursaries for their research projects in 2025
The Folklore Society President’s Prize 2024
Published 3rd December 2024
We are very pleased to announce that The Folklore Society President’s Prize 2024 was awarded to Harvey Alexander Cross, for his essay ‘Why Do People Believe in Ghosts, Aliens, and Bigfoot? Exploring the Rise of Popular Antiscientific Folklore in the Euro-American West.’
Ronald Hutton awarded the Coote Lake Medal
Published 13th November 2024
Following the Katharine Briggs Lecture at Cecil Sharp House on 12 November, Prof. Ronald Hutton was presented with The Folklore Society’s Coote Lake Medal for his long-standing contribution to folklore scholarship. Jeremy Harte delivered a compelling citation, which will be published in FLS News.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2024
Published 12th November 2024
We are delighted to announce that Tabitha Stanmore is the winner of this year’s Katharine Briggs Award for her book Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic, published by The Bodley Head.
We also congratulate the Runner-up, Matthew Townend, for his book The Victorians and English Dialect: Philology, Fiction, and Folklore, published by Oxford University Press.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2024: Short List
Published 4th October 2024
We are pleased to announce the short list for the Katharine Briggs Award 2024
President's Prize 2024
Published 9th September 2024
30 September 2024 is the deadline for entries for The Folklore Society President's Prize 2024, for a folklore studies essay by a student registered on a relevant undergraduate, or equivalent level 4, 5 or 6, course of study at a university or other institution of higher or further education in the UK or Republic of Ireland.
Coote Lake Medal awarded to Steve Roud
Published 9th July 2024
Congratulations to Steve Roud, who has been awarded The Folklore Society's Coote Lake Medal for outstanding research and scholarship. Here you can see him being presented with the medal by FLS President David Hopkin on 28th June 2024 at our Digital Folklore conference, with Caroline Oates, FLS Librarian, looking on.
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2024
Published 16th February 2024
We are pleased to announce that bursaries for 2024 have been awarded to the following post-graduate students
Folklore Society President's Prize 2023
Published 23rd January 2024
We congratulate Xinrui Xie, winner of The Folklore Society President's Prize 2023, for her essay 'Shadowed Maternity: The Perpetuating Ambivalence Towards Motherhood in Ubume Narratives'
The Katharine Briggs Award 2023
Published 7th November 2023
We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Katharine Briggs Award 2023 is Una McIlvenna for her book Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe, 1500-1900
The Katharine Briggs Award 2023: Short List
Published 17th October 2023
We are very pleased to announce the short list for this year's Katharine Briggs Award
Brian McConnell Book Award 2023
Published 3rd July 2023
Congratulations to Simon Young, winner of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research's Brian McConnell Book Award 2023, for his book 'The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2023
Published 20th January 2023
We are very pleased to announce that our Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2023 has been awarded to Claire Slack (DHeritage, University of Hertfordshire) for her research project: 'Sharing Sacred Spaces: Engagements with the Contemporary Heritage of British Pagan Sacred Sites.'
The Katharine Briggs Award 2022
Published 8th November 2022
We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Katharine Briggs Award 2022 is: Folklore, Magic, and Witchcraft: Cultural Exchanges from the Twelfth to Eighteenth Century, Edited by Marina Montesano, and published by Routledge.
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2022
Published 3rd February 2022
We are very pleased to announce the award of Canziani bursaries
Winner of our Non-Print Media Award 2021
Published 16th November 2021
We are very pleased to announce that our biennial Non-Print Media Award was won by Iorram (Boat Song), documentary directed by Alastair Cole (Tongue Tied Films, 2021).
Jonathan Hui Wins the Katharine Briggs Award 2021
Published 16th November 2021
We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Katharine Briggs Award 2021 is Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Vilmundar saga viðutan. The Saga of Vilmundur the Outsider, published by The Viking Society for Northern Research.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2021 Shortlist
Published 4th October 2021
We are pleased to announce the shortlist for this year's Katharine Briggs Award.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2020
Published 23rd February 2021
We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Katharine Briggs Award 2020 is William G. Pooley, Body and Tradition in Nineteenth-Century France: Félix Arnaudin and the Moorlands of Gascony, 1870-1914, published by Oxford University Press.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2020
Published 4th February 2021
We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the Katharine Briggs Award 2020, which was postponed from last November to 23 February 2021.
Non-Print Media Award 2021
Published 27th January 2021
Unfortunately, owing to pandemic conditions, we were not able to solicit entries to make a 2020 award viable. We remain committed to the Award, however, which seems to be more important than ever given the situation confronting publishers, and will be holding it in 2021.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2019
Published 30th October 2019
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Katharine Briggs Award 2019 is Guy Beiner for his book Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster (published by Oxford University Press).
Katharine Briggs Award 2019--Short List
Published 3rd October 2019
We are very pleased to announce the short list for this year's Katharine Briggs Award.
Gillian Bennett receiving her Coote Lake medal
Published 18th June 2019
She said 'Thank you very much' and 'Can I get a hole drilled through it so that I can wear it as a pendant?'
The Katharine Briggs Award 2018
Published 26th November 2018
We are delighted to announce that the winner of this year's Katharine Briggs Award is: Martin Graebe, for his book As I Walked Out: Sabine Baring-Gould and the Search for the Folk Songs of Devon and Cornwall (Signal Books).
Estella Canziani Bursary for Post-graduate Research
Published 6th July 2018
We are pleased to announce that this year's bursary was awarded to Leah Stuttard for her research into "A History of Improvisation in the Medieval Music Revival"
Katharine Briggs Award 2017
Published 15th November 2017
We congratulate Christopher Josiffe as winner of our Katharine Briggs Award 2017 for his book Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, published by Strange Attractor.
Katharine Briggs Award 2017 - Short List
Published 29th September 2017
There were many, excellent books submitted for this year’s Award, and the judges have short listed the following entries.
Special award to Robert McDowall
Published 12th April 2017
A special award of an engraved goblet was presented on 31 March 2017 to Robert McDowall as a token of gratitude for his twenty years of devoted service to the Folklore Society, as President, vice-President and, especially, for his financial wizardry as Honorary Treasurer.
Non-print Media Award
Published 10th November 2016
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2016 biennial Non-Print Media Award is Rod Stradling of Musical Traditions for his 2 CD set of Sam Larner: Cruising Round Yarmouth (MTCD369-0)
Katharine Briggs Award
Published 10th November 2016
We are delighted to announce that this year's Katharine Briggs Award was won by Lizanne Henderson for her book Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of the Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670-1740 (Palgrave).
The Katharine Briggs Award 2016: Short List
Published 2nd November 2016
Of the nineteen entries this year, the judges short listed six books.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2015
Published 19th November 2015
With great pleasure, we announce that The Katharine Briggs Award 2015 was won by Richard P. Jenkins for his book Black Magic and Bogeymen: Fear, Rumour and Popular Belief in the North of Ireland 1972-74, published by Cork University Press.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2015: Shortlisted entries
Published 9th November 2015
The following books, in alphabetical order, have been shortlisted for this year's Katharine Briggs Award. The judges' decision will be announced at a wine reception and buffet supper on Wednesday 18 November following our annual Katharine Briggs Lecture starting at 6.30 p.m. at The Warburg Institute.
Non-Print Media Award 2014
Published 20th November 2014
We're very happy to announce that the winner of our inaugural Non-Print Media Award 2014 was presented to Rod Stradling for Old Fashioned Songs: Cecilia Costello; Musical Traditions [Double CD ]
Folklore Society President's Prize 2014
Published 20th November 2014
Congratulations to Ben Kehoe, winner of the Folklore Society President's Prize 2014, for his entry: '"He appeared to us like a God": Popular Perceptions and Memories of Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Revolution of 1860 in Sicily in the Later Nineteenth Century' (MPhil thesis, Oxford University).
Don Yoder Graduate and William A. Wilson Undergraduate Paper Prizes - Call for Submissions
Published 21st August 2014
The Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Section of the American Folklore Society invites submissions for TWO student prizes:The Don Yoder Prize for the Best Graduate Student Paper in Folk Belief or Religious Folklife, with an honorarium of $500; and NOW a second prize, the William A. Wilson Folk Belief and Religious Folklife Undergraduate Paper Prize; with an honorarium of $250.
Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research 2014
Published 23rd June 2014
We are very pleased to announce that this year's Bursary was awarded to Cristina Elena Clopot to assist with her research project: "Liminal Identities for Migrants in Romania-A Case Study on Russian Lipovans".
New: Folklore Society Non-Print Media Award
Published 29th April 2014
We are pleased to call for entries for our newly established "Non-print Media Award", a biennial prize of £150 for a non-print media publication (CD/DVD) on folklore.
2013 President's Prize
Published 9th December 2013
Congratulations to Max Bienkowski, winner of the 2013 President's Prize.
The Katharine Briggs Award 2013
Published 9th December 2013
We are delighted to announce that The Katharine Briggs Award 2013 was won by Karl Bell for his book The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack: Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures, published by The Boydell Press.
Canziani Bursary 2013
Published 27th September 2013
We are delighted to announce that the Estella Canziani Post-graduate Bursary for Research was awarded to Sara Marzagora towards her research into "Postcolonial Folklore in Contemporary Ethiopia."
The Coote Lake Medal for Research
Published 27th September 2013
Prof Patricia Lysaght, who edited our journal 'Folklore' from 2004-2012, was awarded The Coote Lake Medal for Research during our Urban Folklore conference at Cardiff University on 20 April. Congratulations!
The Katharine Briggs Book Award 2011 Winner
Published 27th September 2013
The prize was awarded to Professor Widdowson and Dr William Marcy IV of The Edwin Mellen Press at a reception on Wednesday 9 November at The Warburg Institute following a well attended and very enjoyable lecture by Michael Rosen.