SMA Dissertation Awards 2026

Posted On: October 7th, 2026

One of the highlights of our recent conference was the opportunity to award prizes for the best Undergraduate and Postgraduate dissertations. These annual awards celebrate outstanding student research, recognising exceptional originality, rigour and significant contributions to the field of medieval archaeology. Through these awards we aim to encourage and support the next generation of medieval archaeologists and, judging by the calibre of submissions this year, the future looks bright indeed.

The Undergraduate Dissertation Prize

There was a very competitive field for this year’s Undergraduate category. After much deliberation, the panel awarded the prize to Jonathan Baker (University of Reading, BA Archaeology & Anthropology) for his dissertation: How can the study of coin finds inform an understanding of the Middle Thames region as a distinct monetary zone and conduit of communication in the Anglo-Saxon period?

SMA President Prof Sarah Semple presents the Undergraduate Dissertation prize to Jonathan Baker. (Image: © Society for Medieval Archaeology).

Jonathan analysed the distribution and chronologies of sceattas found by both metal-detectorists and excavation, and used this to explore the dynamics of the economy of the Middle Thames area, in comparison to the better-studied Upper Thames region. The panel felt that this piece of work was particularly impressive in its scope, ambition and undertaking, and made an important contribution to scholarship. Jonathan and his family were able to attend the conference and it was a pleasure to be able to award the prize in person.

The Postgraduate Dissertation Prize

This was another very competitive field, and the results were very close. First, we would like to offer high commendations to our runner-up Anne-Laure White (UCL Institute of Archaeology, MSc Environmental Archaeology), for her dissertation: Culture of preservation? Fruit Consumption in Early Islamic Morocco.

Our Winner is Ellie Comerford (University of York, MA Medieval Archaeology), for her dissertation: Reuse, reduce and recycle: Miniaturisation and the rearticulation of memory and material culture on Viking-Age Hogbacks. The panel felt this was a really original approach to an otherwise well-studied subject, developing a novel new theoretical framework for their understanding.

Congratulations to all of our winners and candidates for their exemplary scholarship and outstanding contributions to medieval archaeology. If you are a dissertation supervisor and would like to nominate a candidate for one of our awards, please visit our website here.

Prize winners receive a cash prize and the choice of one of the Society’s recently published Monographs.