We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2026 Simon Dentith Memorial Prize, the Society’s postgraduate essay competition.
Amy Todd’s essay, ‘A Red Rag to a Bull: Red Rag magazine, Socialist Feminism, and the Communist Party of Great Britain,’ draws from her exciting PhD research on the British ‘magazine of liberation’ Red Rag (1972-1980). The essay beautifully reconstructs the sometimes strained relationships between the journal’s editorial collective, the British Communist Party and the wider trade union movement, as it looked for ways to criticise the labour movement while staying very much a part of it. Richly versed in the relevant archives, attentive to questions of form and institutional structure, the essay advances our understanding of this pivotal moment in the articulation of a Marxist feminism that empowers and unifies diverse and fragmentary experiences of oppression.
We are thrilled that Amy has agreed to revise the article for publication in Key Words. She wins a cash prize of £250 and a year’s subscription to the Society.
Next year’s competition will go live in September 2026. Stay tuned!
The Raymond Williams Society 