Masters prize winner announced!
Posted: Thursday 18th April 2024
The British Commission for Maritime History is pleased to announce the Masters Dissertation Award 2023 (for the 2022-23 session) goes to Taylan Campbell for 'British Newspapers and Transatlantic Ocean Liners, 1906-1916: Representations of Launches, Maiden Voyages, and Disasters' - University of Aberdeen.
This M.Litt. study looks at how newspapers reported significant events in the competitive world of the ocean liner between 1906 and 1916. Using local and national newspapers, the author is able to identify why different responses to launches, maiden voyages, and international diplomacy occurred. Although the Titanic and its fate, is by far the most famous story of the time, reporting on the great ocean liners was common place. Not only were the liners great technological achievements, imbued by the press with national and local pride, but the newspaper industry itself was still in the throes of industrial change which was altering its relationship with the readership. As such this dissertation provides interesting insights into both the maritime world and the media industry.
Although this year we had only two nominations, they demonstrated the breadth and quality of post-graduate maritime studies – as well as the difficulties this poses for the judging panel. Every year students seeking answers to the questions that can be asked of the maritime past draw on a wide range of skills and academic disciplines. This year was no different and the final choice for the award was agreed by the narrowest of margins. Congratulations to the students of both submissions.
