COIHS Prize Winner: Matthew Houston

The Church of Ireland Historical Society is delighted to announce that the 2018 COIHS Postgraduate Prize Winner is Matthew Houston. His paper was entitled ‘The great crusade? The Church of Ireland and interpretations of the Second World War’. He will receive his cash prize of €150 at the forthcoming COIHS Spring conference in April and will be given the opportunity to submit his essay for publication in Ireland’s premier historical journal: Irish Historical Studies.

Matthew holds BA and MA degrees in History and a Graduate Diploma in Theology from Queen’s University, Belfast. He is currently working on a DEL-funded PhD at QUB entitled ‘The churches, Northern Ireland, and the Second World War, 1939-45’. His research explores how leaders within major denominations responded to the challenges raised by the war.

The committee of the Church of Ireland Historical Society would like to thank all postgraduate students who submitted an essay. They were of an exceptionally high standard and we strongly encourage candidates to consider entering the 2019 competition with a new topic (please see terms and conditions).

Details of the 2019 COIHS Prize will be announced shortly.

We would also like to congratulate our last prize winner from 2016, Kathryn Sawyer, whose essay was published in the recent issue of Irish Historical Studies in November.

The Prize provides an excellent opportunity for postgraduate students to promote their work that considers aspects of the Church of Ireland.