The Runciman Award, organised by the Anglo-Hellenic League and with the generous support of the National Bank of Greece, is awarded each year to a book devoted to an aspect of Hellenic Studies.
The winner of the 2012 Award is The Maeander Valley by Dr Peter Thonemann (Cambridge University Press £65 Hardcover), a lecturer in Ancient History at Wadham College, Oxford. The winning author received his award at a ceremony held at the Hellenic Centre, London, on the 13 June 2012.
The Runciman Award, first conceived in 1983 during Lord Jellicoe’s chairmanship of the Anglo-Hellenic League, was presented for the first time in 1986 and named in honour of Sir Steven Runciman, the eminent Byzantine scholar and the League’s longest-serving Chairman. It is given each year for a work wholly or mainly about some aspect of Greece or the world of Hellenism, published in English in its first edition in the previous year. The aim of the Award is to stimulate interest in Greek history and culture from earliest times to the present; to reward and encourage good and accessible writing, of which Sir Steven’s works are an example; and to promote wider knowledge and understanding of Greece’s contribution to civilization and values.
No category of writing is excluded from consideration. Thus, for example, the prize may be awarded for a work in the field of history, literary studies, biography, travel and topography, the arts, architecture, archaeology, the environment, social and political sciences or current affairs; or for a work of fiction, poetry or drama.
The Runciman Award has received funding from private sources, businesses and institutions with an interest in the promotion of Greek culture. Sponsors have included the Onassis Foundation and, since 1999, the National Bank of Greece. Since 2002 the winner has received a medal in addition to the money prize of £9000. This was due to the close personal interest of the late Dr. Theodoros Karatzas, then Governor of the National Bank of Greece.
(Info from anglohellenicleague.org)
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