The R. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize is awarded annually for the best essay submitted by an undergraduate student at a university based in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. The award includes a cash prize of £250, expenses-paid travel to the next annual conference of the Society for French Studies, and mention in the French Studies Bulletin and on the Society for French Studies website.

The Society welcomes submissions from the broad multidisciplinary range of French Studies, across time periods and geographies, to include work on history and politics, cinema and media cultures, literary, cultural and post-colonial studies, and French linguistics.

Every university can submit up to two annual entries. Students from 13 different universities have won the prize or been commended as runners up since 2008.

The deadline for entries to this year’s prize, for an essay written in the 12 months prior to July 2026, is 17 July 2026. The details of the winner and runner up will be published in November 2026.