Speculative Archiving of a Potential Future Literary Award: Embedded Publishing Studies Research

Over the course of my doctoral research in publishing studies, I have become curious about the kind of embedded live collaborative study I am undertaking, which is working towards the potential creation of a new literary prize. This article will add to existing scholarship by examining how research can be conceived of as an active part of evidence-based prize creation. To do so, it will draw on feminist research methodology and record formation scholarship, and examine how other awards and literary organisations conceptualise their archives. The article will then present the original findings of the study, beginning with the conceptualisation of the researcher as inhabiting three distinct roles, moving on to modelling the relationship between the researcher and the prize project, concluding with an exploration of these relationships through autoethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. The article will conclude asserting what these findings mean for this kind of live award scholarship.