The Norman B. Spencer Essay Prize

Competition Entry Rules

• The competition is open to members of lodges on the register of the UGLE or other recognised grand lodges. Applicants may select their own subject which must be within the fields of Masonic history, symbolism, ritual, biography, antiquities, architecture, or another subject deemed to be of historical importance. Lodge Histories and local Masonic History are acceptable if of wider interest.
• No one is eligible who has previously been awarded the Norman B. Spencer Prize or who has been invited to read a paper at a meeting of Quatuor Coronati Lodge.
• The Prize (£200) is awarded for the entry judged by the Board of Assessors each year as being the winner, or it may be divided between entrants. The decision of the Board is final.
• Essays should consist of 5,000 to 10,000 words in English and should be submitted in Word format; entries should contain the author’s name, address, and email address as the first page.
• The purpose of Quatuor Coronati is Masonic research and it is expected that entries will contain relevant content. Papers of a philosophical nature are unlikely to qualify.
• Entries are accepted on the basis that QC Lodge and QC Correspondence Circle Ltd. have the option of first publication and the right to exercise normal editorial powers in the preparation of essays for publication or delivery and, in particular, to bring them into conformity with the AQC Style Guide.
• Copyright of papers remains with the authors but by entering the competition, the author grants to QC Lodge and QC Correspondence Circle Ltd. the right to print, reprint and publish their papers or extracts therefrom without requiring any further permissions from the author, his heirs or assigns.
• Entries (which must reach the Lodge Secretary on or before 1 June each year) should be emailed to secretary@quatuorcoronati.com and copied to editor@quatuorcoronati.com, and headed ‘Norman B. Spencer Prize’.
• Authors may wish to contact the editor in advance to determine whether the proposed subject is suitable for inclusion.
• Articles must be submitted electronically and not sent by post. Authors should take note of the AQC Style Guide.

Recent winners 

• Alan T Robertson (2024) – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier … and others: the Freemasons of Worcestershire, c.1750-1850′
• Ariel Weinmann-Rubino (2023) – ‘Freemasonry and the construction of the Panama Canal’
• Jack Dowds (2022) – ‘Freemasonry in Ireland and the Rebellion of 1798’
• Niall Johnson (2021) – ‘Taking French Leave: Masonic English Napoleonic Prisoners 1803–1814’
• Marshall Lim Yu Hui (2020) – ‘Sovereignty over Pedra Branca – Freemasonry’s unintended involvement in an international dispute between Malaysia and Singapore and a reflection on record keeping in the Craft’
• Brendan Kyne (2019) – ‘The First Lodge on the Ballarat Goldfields; French Memphis Rite Lodge,1853’
• David Slater (2018) – ‘Revisiting John Browne’s Ciphered Masonic Works’
• Mark Wallace (2017) – ‘Antient Lustre in this Kingdom’
• Gerald Reilly (2016) – ‘The Urbanisation of Harwich and Freemasonry’
• Mike Karn (2014) – ‘English Freemasonry during the Great War’
• John Bowman (2013) – ‘Librarians in Freemasonry’
• David J. Peck (2012) – ‘Did the threat of a German Invasion in WWII pose a risk to British Freemasons?’
• Mike Kearsley (2011) – ‘The Formation of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand’
• Paul Calderwood (2010) – ‘Freemasonry and Architecture in twentieth-century Britain’

Norman B. Spencer

Norman Spencer (1891–1968) was born in Auckland and qualified LLB from the University of New Zealand in 1914. During WWI he served in Egypt and France, and on his return joined his father’s law practice. He was later President of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Senate of the University of New Zealand; he was awarded a CBE in 1963. Spencer’s obituary by Harry Carr appears in AQC 80.
Spencer was initiated in Remuera Lodge, No.1710 (EC) (1921), appointed District Grand Warden in 1937 and received Grand Rank (NZ) in 1938. He joined United Masters Lodge, No.167 (NZC) in 1928 (WM, 1933), and later founded six lodges. Within NZ, he was Grand Lecturer (1934); President of the Board of General Purposes (1940/1); SGW (1950); and PProGM NZ in 1960. Within UGLE, Spencer was appointed PAGDC (1938), PGD (1953), and received the Order of Service to Freemasonry in 1959. He joined QCCC in 1927, becoming a full member in 1951 and serving as Master in 1959-60.