MA Postcolonial Studies student Nicola Wheeler runner-up in Postgraduate Essay Prize 2021

It is with great pleasure that the School of English announces that MA Postcolonial Studies student Nicola Wheeler is the runner-up in the Postcolonial Studies Association/Journal of Postcolonial Writing Postgraduate Essay Competition.

The PSA/JPW Postgraduate Essay Competition is the most prestigious international prize for postgraduate researchers in the field of Postcolonial Studies and provides an opportunity for new scholars to showcase their work in a leading academic journal. The winners and runners-up demonstrate the innovative contributions that postgraduate scholars make to the wide-ranging field of postcolonial studies.

The competition regularly draws in entrants from the UK, Europe, North America, and South Asia, showcasing some of the most ground-breaking and timely scholarship from across the fields of cultural studies, geography, politics, theology, history, anthropology, literature, film, and development studies. Nicola’s article on E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India came out of her essay for the module ‘Writing of Empire and Settlement’, and speaks to the School’s long-standing expertise in Postcolonial Studies, modernism, and twentieth-century literature.

Dr Matt Whittle, Director of the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kent, said “I am delighted to hear this news and, on behalf of the School of English and the Centre, I offer my warmest congratulations to Nicola on her achievement. To be recognised by the judging committee of such a prestigious prize shows the calibre of her work and underlines the contribution she is making to this very important field. The School of English will follow her future career with great interest!”