Postgraduate Poster Competition
Each year, the Society welcomes postgraduates (at Master's and PhD level) to participate in a poster competition, producing a poster that showcases their research project. The competition judging takes place during the Annual Conference, which in 2026 will be held at the University of Leicester between 29th June and 1st July. Selected posters are displayed in-person at the conference, and prizes will be awarded for the best poster (£150) and the runner-up (50).
Presenting
Posters will be printed and displayed throughout the Annual Conference. Participants will have the opportunity to ‘present’ their work during the postgraduate poster sessions, which will take place on the first two days (Monday 29 June and Tuesday 30 June) of the conference. These sessions will allow participants to discuss their research informally with colleagues, using a poster as a visual aid for highlighting a project’s central argument, or key ideas.
Please note that all participants wishing to present a poster must register for the Annual Conference. Postgraduate members of the Society for French Studies who are presenting a poster will also be able to apply for a travel grant.
Making Posters
Posters will convey a project’s central ideas clearly and concisely. They should also be self-contained documents that can stand alone.
Participants may create their posters using, for example, Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. We highly recommend the free online design software Canva, which offers templates for posters and infographics. All posters must be submitted in PDF format, and will be printed by the conference organisers on A2 paper (420 x 594 mm / 4961 x 7016 pixels), so please bear these dimensions in mind when submitting your poster.
Getting Involved
To express your interest, please send a short email that outlines the general topic or argument of your proposed poster by 2 March 2026 to Tobias Barnett (Postgraduate Officer) and Rebecca Boyd (Conference Assistant) at the following address: postgraduates@sfs.ac.uk .
After this date, we will contact participants with more information. The final poster should be submitted by 29 May 2026.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to be in touch with the organisers, Tobias Barnett and Rebecca Boyd.
Anna Paola Manna's winning poster entry for 2025.
2025 Recipients
The Society is delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 poster competition, for which judging took place during the Annual Conference at the University of Bristol. A full gallery of all 14 entries can be viewed here; the competition this year was organised by Tobias Barnett and Rebecca Boyd.
Winner: Ana Paola Manna
| Project | No book is an island |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of Exeter |
Runner up: Maddison Sumner
| Project | S'EFFONDRER : MÉTHODE (Analysing Two Brothers in Parallel) |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of Cambridge |
Runner up: Zi Ying (Kathy) Fan
| Project | Behind 'Le Livre de jade': A Fractured Source Space and the 'Yuefu' Tradition |
|---|---|
| Institution | Oxford University |
Previous recipients
2024
The judges of the competition, Profs Catriona Seth and Lydie Moudileno, were very impressed by the high standard of submissions, and commended the care, consideration, and creative flair that had been put into making each poster. A full gallery of all 16 entries can be viewed here; the competition this year was organised by Elly Walters and Tobias Barnett.
Winner: Katharine Kent
| Project | Intertextuality, Intermediality and Radio Afterlives: Duras's 'Les Papiers d'Aspern 1961' |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of Cambridge |
Runner up: Clementine Pursey
| Project | 'Le corps de vous vault mieulx que dix royaulmes': The Reception of Deviant Bodies in Jean d'Arras's 'Mélusine' |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of St. Andrews |
Runner up: Tamzin Elliott
| Project | Drawing (On) the Past: Representing Abortion in Graphic Narrative |
|---|---|
| Institution | Durham University |
2023
We are extremely grateful to two keynote speakers, Professors Helen Swift and Alexandre Gefen, for taking the time to judge the competition. Both were impressed by the high standard of this year’s submissions, and commended the care, consideration, and creative flair that had been put into making each poster. A full gallery of all 16 entries can be viewed here; the competition this year was organised by David Ewing and Elly Walters.
Winner: Sophie Ellis
| Project | The Spatiality of French Hospitality |
|---|---|
| Institution | Newcastle University |
Runner up: Gareth Hughes
| Project | Sounds from outsite: spatial transformations in contemporary French and multilingual poetry |
|---|---|
| Institution | Royal Holloway, University of London |
Runner up: Elizabeth Purdy
| Project | An introduction to end-time structures |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of Leeds |
2022
We are extremely grateful to two keynote speakers, Professors Jane Hiddleston and Edward Hughes, for taking the time to judge this year's cohort. Both were impressed by the high standard of this year’s submissions, and commended the deep care and consideration that had been put into making each poster. A full gallery of all 18 entries can be viewed here; the competition this year was organised by David Ewing and Elly Walters.
Winner: Louisa Esther Mugabo
| Project | Towards a conceptualisation of exile journalism: A study of East African and Latin American journalists' norms and practices in exile |
|---|---|
| Institution | University College Cork |
Runner up: Ry Montgomery
| Project | "Parce que c'est la dernière": Constellations of HIV/AIDS activism in Lionael Soukaz's 'Journal Annales' |
|---|---|
| Institution | University of London Institute in Paris |
Runner up: Leon Hughes
| Project | Affective 'Arbres de la liberté' : Emotional Experience and Non-Human Agenc(ies) in the French Revolution, 1789-1799 |
|---|---|
| Institution | Trinity College Dublin |