Announcement JB Firth Essay Prize

The Council of the Forensic Science Society are pleased to announce an essay prize with a value of £200 sterling, plus ten forensic science books from Elsevier Academic Press.

The full book list is:

Henry Lee's Crime Scene Handbook by Lee et al,
Criminal Profiling by Turvey
Rape Investigation Handbook by Turvey et al
Trace Evidence Analysis by Houck
Digital Evidence and Computer Crime by Casey
Child Exploitation and pornography by Ferarro et al
Drug facilitated sexual Assault by LeBeau
Hallucinogens, A forensic drug handbook by Laing
Handbook of Forensic Drug Analysis by Smith
Forensic Dental Evidence by Bowers.
To find out more about these and related books, visit
http://books.elsevier.com/forensics

The competition is open to:
final year students anywhere in the world currently studying on any full-time or part-time graduating course at a recognised institute of higher education (see below).


The student must be in the penultimate or final year of their studies when the essay is submitted. The essay must be in English and the winning submission will be published in Science and Justice.

The closing date for submissions is 31st March 2008. The essays will be assessed by a panel appointed by Council of the Forensic Science Society whose decision will be final.


The topic for submission is:
Commercialisation of forensic science provision… are we looking into Pandora's box?


The essay is to be between 5000 and 7000 words long and must be written in English.

Conditions of entry:

1. ‘Student’ includes any person worldwide currently studying on any full-time or part-time graduating course at a recognised institute of higher education.
2. The course must include an identifiable unit of learning relating entirely to forensic science or forensic medicine and science combined. This unit must be of at least two credits duration, equivalent to at least 40 h of lectures.
3. The student must be in the penultimate or final year of their studies when the essay is submitted.
4. The essay must be accompanied by a certificate signed by the student and a course tutor confirming that the work is that of the student. The essay must also be accompanied by a copy of the student's registration document and a course outline showing the course hours and curriculum for the forensic science content.

Entries should be marked ‘Essay competition’ on the outside of the envelope and sent to:
The Office Manager
The Forensic Science Society,
Clarke House, 18A Mount Parade, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 1BX UK