Special Issue on Performers, Directors, and Producers

Although the Porn Studies Journal has been running for almost ten years, it has had very few submissions that focus on particular porn performers, directors, or producers. The journal hopes to remedy this with a special issue next year on porn performance.

Short contributions of 2000-3000 words will feature a real diversity of pieces (they will consider longer pieces). The journal is aiming for submission of first drafts by January 10th, 2023 at the latest.

Please send a short abstract (no more than 70 words) by September 30th to clarissa2.smith@northumbria.ac.uk.

More Porn Studies Announcements

Postgraduate Research in Progress Special Issue

We are seeking papers from postgraduate students working in any discipline on any aspect of pornography for a special issue showcasing postgraduate research-in-progress. Papers of 5000 to 6000 words should be submitted by October 16th, 2022 along with a brief description of your current affiliation and thesis topic.  Detailed editorial guidelines for contributors are available on the Porn Studies submission pages. It is anticipated that this special issue will appear in December 2023.

The special issue is intended as a forum for current and recently completed Masters and PhD students to publish original research, comment and reviews in any field relevant to pornography research.

The New Directions Graduate Essay Prize 

Screening Sex Network and Porn Studies (Routledge)

We invite submissions for the New Directions Graduate Essay Prize (2023).

The New Directions Graduate Essay Prize will recognize and reward innovative graduate writing which can be on any subject relating to modern and contemporary pornographic media.

Entries will be assessed on:

• Timely and original contribution;
• innovative approach and/or methods;
• scholarly rigor in engaging with pornography broadly conceived;
• contextualization of recent scholarship and/or theory in relevant fields;
• clarity and readability.

All scholars registered for graduate study at any Higher Education institution worldwide are eligible to enter. Scholars may not have completed their postgraduate study before October 1st, 2022 (i.e. the beginning of the submission window). Essays will be judged in a blind peer review by the conveners of the Screening Sex Network, and the winning entry will also be assessed by members of the Porn Studies editorial board. Winners will be announced in June 2023.

Prizes

The author of the prize-winning essay will receive:

• £200 prize money
• Publication of their essay in Porn Studies, identified as the New Directions Graduate Essay. A year’s online subscription to Porn Studies journal.

Up to three runners-up will also receive a year’s online subscription to Porn Studies journal.

In the event that the judges deem no essay submitted to be of a standard suitable for publication, no prize will be awarded.

Guidelines for Submission

• Submissions of between 6,000 and 8,000 words will be accepted between October 1st, 2022 and January 31st, 2023. Please send all entries and accompanying cover sheets to clarissa2.smith@northumbria.ac.uk by 23:59 (GMT), 31 January 2023.
• A cover sheet should accompany your entry, including your name, contact details, brief academic bio (2-3 lines), confirming your graduate student status, and specifying that your essay is for consideration in the New Directions Graduate Essay Prize.
• Please include a short abstract (up to 250 words, included in overall word count) at the beginning of your essay along with up to six keywords.
• Your essay must be an original piece of work; no part of it can have been previously published or under consideration with any other publishing outlet.
• Essays must be presented according to the Porn Studies journal’s instructions for contributors.
• The essay itself must be anonymized and without identifying details, to allow blind peer review.
• Entries not abiding by the above requirements will be disqualified.
• Please note that submitting an entry to the New Directions Essay Prize is not a submission to Porn Studies by the normal channels. Your essay will be peer-reviewed by members of the Screening Sex network in the first instance, and only a selected shortlist will be passed to the Porn Studies journal editors to be considered for publication.