The PolGRG Book Award (2025-2026) in coordination with Political Geography Journal
The Political Geography Research Group Royal Geographic Society (PolGRG) Book Award was first established in September 2016, and officially launched in 2017, with sponsorship from the journal Political Geography. Since its launch, the five recipients of the award have been Reece Jones’ Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move (Verso, 2016), Sara Fregonese’s War and the City: Urban Geopolitics in Lebanon (I.B. Tauris, 2019), Louise Amoore’s Cloud Ethics: Algorithms and the Attributes of Ourselves and Others (Duke, 2020), Alessandro Rippa’s Borderland Infrastructures: Trade, Development and Control in Western China (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), and Rupal Oza’s Semiotics of Rape: Sexual Subjectivity and Violation in Rural India (Duke, 2022).
We are now seeking nominations for the fifth PolGRG/Political Geography Book Award for books published since June 2023. The prize will be awarded in 2026.
About the PolGRG Book Award
The PolGRG/Political Geography co-sponsored Book Award is an award recognising new academic volumes whose theme engages with the interests of PolGRG and, more widely, contributes to the subdiscipline of political geography, with its wide variety of diverse issues connected with relationships between space and power.
Which books are eligible?
Books published in the two years previous to the call are eligible for the award (i.e. June 2023-June 2025). In line with the diversity of PolGRG interests and membership, the PolGRG Book Award is aimed at published volumes stirring interest and debate around: territoriality and sovereignty, states, cities, and citizenship; geopolitics, political economy, political ecology; migration, globalization, (post)colonialism; social movements and governance; peace, conflict and security, as well as the mutual geographical construction of these phenomena with gender, race, class, sexuality and religion.
How much is the award worth?
PolGRG has an annual award sponsorship from Political Geography/Elsevier of £100. The winning book will also be the subject of an Authors meets Critics session at the annual RGS-IBG meeting (2026), leading to a book award review forum published in Political Geography.
How are books nominated?
A book prize competition call is advertised, initially biannually, on relevant mailing lists (critical geography list, PolGRG, etc.). Anyone can nominate books for the award, published in the two years previous to the call.
Who are the judges?
A book award committee will consist of: two representatives from the PolGRG committee, one representative from the Political Geography journal editorial team or editorial board, and two representatives from the wider PolGRG membership. Should conflicts of interest arise, the PolGRG committee will nominate relevant alternative reviewers. Gender balance among book award committee members will be promoted.
How is the award decided?
The book award committee reviews all nominations and shortlist a maximum of 6 books, with emphasis on early career authors and on authors from the Global South.
How to nominate: The call for nominations is open now and closes on Friday 19 December 2025. Announcement of book award recipient is due in May-June 2026.
A 100-word summary in support of your book award nomination with the book’s full title and author should be sent to PolGRG committee members Dr Shawn Bodden (shawn.bodden@ed.ac.uk) and Dr Merrill Hopper (merrill.hopper@newcastle.ac.uk) by 17 December 2025. In your email header/title please include the text “PolGRG Book Award:” followed by the book author(s) name(s).
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