About:
The Polly Corrigan Book Prize is a biennial award sponsored by The King’s Centre for Intelligence Studies (KCSI) and Intelligence and National Security (INS, Taylor & Francis). It was set up to honour the life and work of the late Dr Polly Corrigan, former journalist and teaching assistant at King’s College London, whose research focused on The Great Terror in 1930s Soviet Union.
The Prize aims to recognise scholarship within the realm of intelligence and security, written by female scholars and/or about women. It encourages scholars to go beyond traditional lines of inquiry and explore how women contributed to and participated in the making of the ‘Secret World’. The Polly Corrigan Book Prize committee comprises representatives of King’s Centre for the Study of Intelligence, INS, WIN, and Polly’s mother, Jane Feinmann, a freelance journalist.
The Committee will accept self-nominations as well as nominations by others. It will consider books and edited volumes written/edited (or co-written/co-edited) by women as well as publications written on women in intelligence (by either men or women). The 2025 Polly Corrigan Book Prize will consider books/edited volumes published in 2024 and 2025.
Award:
The Prize winner will be awarded a book voucher and invited to give a keynote presentation at The King’s Centre for Intelligence Studies Lecture Series. The Intelligence and National Security will also publish a round table on the book.
Deadline:
Nominations for this prize were closed on 31 January 2026. The panel will announce the winner in May 2026.
Dr Polly Corrigan is a former journalist and teaching assistant at King’s College London, whose research focused on the Great Terror in the 1930s Soviet Union.