In 2008 the Society for French Studies launched an annual Malcolm Bowie Prize, to be awarded for the best article published in the preceding year by an early-career researcher in the broader discipline of French Studies. Malcolm Bowie (1943–2007) was not only the most eminent and inspirational Anglophone scholar of French literature and theory of his generation, but a towering figure in the field because of his tireless devotion to the scholarly community in the UK and beyond. His service to the Society for French Studies is just one example: he was President of the Society from 1994 to 1996, as well as General Editor of its journal French Studies from 1980 to 1987. The Society felt that it was particularly appropriate to honour his memory by founding a prize for which only early-career researchers are eligible, since he was a remarkable mentor to countless younger scholars, nationally and internationally.

The prize competition is usually announced towards the end of the calendar year, with a deadline near the end of February in the new year. A small international panel, chaired by the President or Vice-President of the Society for French Studies, reads and assesses the articles. The winner, announced in the Spring on the website, on Francofil, and in the French Studies Bulletin, receives a prize of £1000 and is invited, as a guest of the Society, to that summer’s Annual Conference (with conference fees and accommodation costs covered by the Society).

Details on the 2026 competition will be announced in due course.