Nominations for the 2025 Brian Barry Prize are now closed.

In partnership with Cambridge University Press and the British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS), the British Academy awards an annual prize in honour of Brian Barry, a distinguished Fellow of the Academy and founding editor of the journal.

Brian Barry was a distinguished moral and political philosopher whose work fruitfully combined analytic philosophy and political science, political theory and social choice theory. The prize is awarded annually for excellence in political science, as displayed in an essay submitted for the prize that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The essay can address any topic in political science, as covered by BJPolS, but essays in fields related to the work of Brian Barry are especially welcome.

Essays may be submitted by anyone in possession of a first degree, provided they are not employees of the British Academy or Cambridge University Press, or editors of the British Journal of Political Science.

Entries should be 8,000 to 10,000 words, with an abstract of no more than 100 words. Entries may be submitted at any time.

Entries should be submitted electronically to brianbarryprize@thebritishacademy.ac.uk. They should be in accordance with the journal's style sheet available here.

The Prize will be awarded by the Events and Prizes Committee of the British Academy, on the advice of a Prize Committee especially appointed to assess entries for the Brian Barry Prize.

The Prize, valued at £1,500 will be awarded at a ceremony at the British Academy in 2025 (tbc). The winning entry will be published in the British Journal of Political Science, possibly after revisions.

Submissions for the 2025 Brian Barry Prize ended on the 28th of February 2025.

Enquiries should be directed to brianbarryprize@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.

Full details on the British Academy website can be found here.

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We are pleased to announce that the 2024 winner of the Brian Barry Prize in Political Science is Faik Kurtulmuş of Sabancı University, Istanbul for his essay 'Learning from the Enemies of Freedom: Freedom of Expression and Collective Power'.

He writes:

"I am deeply honoured to have been awarded the 2024 Brian Barry Prize. Barry's work, a model of clarity, engagement with empirical research, and strength of conviction, has always been a source of inspiration. He was both a staunch defender of freedom of expression and an advocate for empowering citizens to shape their common life. In his paper ‘The Continuing Relevance of Socialism’, Barry noted that the champions of unregulated markets like Thatcher limit basic liberties, despite their self-proclaimed commitment to individual liberty. But this was not paradoxical, despite appearances, because “Even under the most repressive conditions conditions—in Soweto or the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, say—people seek to act collectively in order to improve things for themselves, and it requires an enormous exercise of brutal coercion in order to fragment these efforts at organization and force people to pursue their interests individually”. This observation underscores the intimate connection between freedom and collective agency, while highlighting threats to both even in democratic societies. My paper, which argues for the role of freedom of expression as a source of collective power, aims to combine these two commitments and remind us why freedom of expression has been cherished by disadvantaged groups."

Find out more on the British Academy website here.

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Previous winners

2023 - Göran Duus-Otterström, University of Gothenburg, for 'Emissions Sufficientarianism and Climate Justice'

2022 - Chiara Cordelli, University of Chicago, for 'Freeing People, Restricting Capital'

2021 - Prize not run due to the pandemic

2020 - Jonathan Havercroft, University of Southampton, for 'Why is there no just riot theory?'

2019 - Andre Santos Campos, Nova University of Lisbon, for 'Representing the Future: The Interests of Future Persons in Representative Democracy'

2018 - Dr Zeynep Pamuk, University of Oxford, for ‘Justifying Public Funding for Science’

2017 - Professor Jonathan White, London School of Economics and Political Science, for 'The Ethics of Political Alliance'

2016 - Professor William Roberts Clark, Texas A&M University, Professor Matt Golder, Pennsylvania State University, and Professor Sona N. Golder, Pennsylvania State University for 'An Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Model of Politics'

2015 - Dr Parashar Kulkarni, New York University, for 'Are There Cultural Prerequisites to Effective Property Rights?: Evidence from Inheritance Rights of Widows in Colonial India'

2014 - Dr Helder De Schutter, KU Leuven, and Dr Lea Ypi, LSE, for 'Mandatory Citizenship for Immigrants'

Where not open access winning articles are available free of charge until further notice.