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ALBA George Watt Memorial Essay Contest 2006

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is pleased to announce the 
continuing annual competition for the George Watt Memorial Essay prizes. 
ALBA awards prizes for the best essays about the Spanish Civil War, the 
global anti-fascist political or cultural struggles of the 1920s and 
1930s, or the lifetime histories and contributions of the Americans who 
fought in support of the Spanish Republic from 1936-1938.

At least two prizes of $500 each will be awarded each year, one to the 
best undergraduate student work and one to the best graduate student 
work on one or more of the above topics. Work will be judged on the 
basis of originality and effectiveness of argument and presentation. The 
work must be have been produced to fulfill an undergraduate or graduate 
course or degree requirement. We welcome submissions from both U.S. and 
international contestants.

The deadline for receipt of essays for the 2006 awards is May 1, 2006. 
Works produced either during the year of submission or during the 
previous calendar year are eligible for the competition. Essays must be 
at least 5,000 words long to be considered for a prize.

Applicants should be sure to include a title page with name, address, 
e-mail, and telephone number. Please e-mail entries as MS-Word 
attachments to:

[log in to unmask]

Award winners will be announced in May 2006. ALBA’s Executive Committee 
appoints the judges for the contest.

Daniel Czitrom
Chair, George Watt Award Committee
Department of History
Mount Holyoke College
S. Hadley MA 01075

ALBA is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and 
dissemination of the record of the American role in the Spanish Civil 
War and its aftermath. ALBA supervises a major archive at New York 
University’s Tamiment Library (the most comprehensive historical archive 
documenting the American involvement in the Spanish Civil War), and it 
supports cultural and educational activities related to the war and its 
historical, political, artistic, and biographical heritage.

Some 2,800 American men and women, realizing the danger international 
fascism presented to the world, came to the defense of the Spanish 
Republic in the years just prior to the Second World War. On the other 
side were forces led by rebel Spanish generals supported by Hitler and 
Mussolini.

The prizes honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran George 
Watt (1914-1994), not only for his own long anti-fascist record but also 
as a symbol of the many American men and women who risked, and sometimes 
lost, their lives in this struggle. Watt himself was a veteran of Spain 
who then served in the U.S. Army Corps in World War II. An effective and 
passionate voice for a variety of social causes in his lifetime, Watt 
was also a driving force behind the creation and on-going work of ALBA.

-- 
Sebastiaan Faber
Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies
Dept of Hispanic Studies
Oberlin College
50 N Professor St
Oberlin, OH 44074-1091
tel.: (440)775-8189
fax: (440)775-6888
email: <[log in to unmask]>
web site: <http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/sfaber>