First prize to Louisa Bruton for her dissertation: 'Avoir ou a voir: assessing the accessibility of foreign-language records in the archival repositories of the UK and Ireland' (unpublished MA, University of Liverpool, 2011)

The judges thought this was an outstanding and sophisticated thesis that raised important questions, showed excellent archival awareness of the theoretical and practical problems entailed in cataloguing foreign-language records held in the UK and Ireland, and offered well-considered advice on ‘best practice' in the future.  And this is achieved in a very clear, direct and accessible style - a truly impressive piece of work.  

Joint second place -
Aidan Haley, 'Silence on Set! The movie industry in the UK and its archival record' (unpublished MA, University of Liverpool, 2011)

The judges thought this was an excellent and timely topic for discussion which raised very appropriate questions that will surely need to be pursued in the near future - a thought-provoking work.

Carly Donaldson-Randall, '"We need to talk about Grandad": Autoethnography in the Archives', (unpublished MA, University College London, 2011)

The judges thought this was a stimulating and powerful piece of work that showed great personal engagement, raised important questions about the emotional implications of genealogical enquiries, and provided a detailed case study to clinch the argument.

The judges would like to congratulate the candidates and departments running MA courses for archivists on the very high standard that is clearly being achieved on these courses. It was a very difficult task to pick a winner this year, as the award of a joint second prize indicates.  We hope that aspects of the work of all the candidates will be made available to a wider public shortly.