Emerging Scholar Contest 2025 Montana The Magazine of Western History, a publication of the Montana Historical Society, is pleased to announce a contest for the best article on the history of the American West by an emerging scholar. We welcome submissions from graduate students, early career faculty, and independent scholars. The deadline for submissions is January 5, 2025 (midnight). Prize: The winning manuscript, chosen by members of Montana The Magazine of Western History’s board of editors, will be published in an issue of the magazine, and the author will receive $1000 and free registration, travel, and accommodations to the 2025 Montana History Conference, where they will give a talk on their project. Published since 1951, Montana The Magazine of Western History showcases the people, places, and events that shaped the state and the West. In addition to scholarly feature articles, the magazine includes book reviews, commentaries on historical events and people, and advertising relevant to the West. For more information about the magazine, visit: mhs.mt.gov/pubs/ Submission Guidelines Topic: The manuscript must show evidence of original research on significant facets of Western history or provide a new interpretation of historical events that changes the way we view a particular historical topic. Submissions do not have to focus on Montana history but must address a topic of historical relevance to the American West. Length and Formatting:  

• Manuscript should be submitted as a WORD document, 5,500–7,500 words (excluding notes).
• Please format the entire document in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins.
• Place title and author at top of first page, no special formatting. No title page is needed.
• Do not include any headers or footers, other than page numbers (bottom of page, right).

Citations: Please consult the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting. Notes can be footnotes or endnotes, and should be done in WORD using the “Insert Endnote” feature under the “References” tab. Please do not number notes manually or as a separate document, and please change all ibids. in notes to full citations. This ensures that no “ibid.” gets parted from its parent during editing. After editing, we will abbreviate citations where needed. Manuscripts that are under consideration for publication elsewhere or that have been published should not be submitted. We will not consider submissions that duplicate other published works. Excerpts from dissertations, theses, or professional papers, whether in process or accepted by the granting institution are accepted. In addition to your manuscript, please upload a curriculum vitae or résumé with up-to-date contact information (phone number, email, and mailing address). Questions? Contact MHSPublications@mt.gov

Manuscripts for Montana The Magazine of Western History articles are submitted to peer review and must show evidence of original research on significant facets of history or provide a new interpretation of historical events that changes the way we view a particular historical topic. A rewriting of standard incidents generally available in other sources will not be accepted. Manuscripts should be previously unpublished and must include endnotes. 

In the cover letter of your submission, please include the title of your article, your full contact information, and a one to three-sentence bio.

If your article is judged appropriate for Montana, we will submit it to anonymous review; that is, a blind copy of your manuscript will be sent out-of-house for evaluation, usually to two experts in the field. Upon receiving their comments, we will forward a summary of the readers' reports to you with our determination. The process usually takes six to eight weeks.

Style Guide:

Montana The Magazine of Western History adheres to the guidelines of Chicago Manual of Style. Please refer to CMOS for formatting notes.

• Manuscript should be submitted as a WORD document, 5000–8000 words (excluding notes).
• Please format the entire document in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins.
• Place title and author at top of first page, no special formatting. No title page is needed.
• Do not include any headers or footers, other than page numbers (bottom of page, right).
• Notes can be footnotes or endnotes, and should be done in WORD using the “Insert Endnote” feature under the “References” tab. Please do not number notes manually or as a separate document. Please consult Chicago Manual of Style for formatting.
• No ibids. Please change all ibids in notes to full citations. This ensures that no “ibid” gets parted from its parent during editing. After editing, we can change to ibid or an abbreviated citation where needed.
• Also, in the notes: Use this date format: Jan. 15, 2019 rather than 15 January 2019. Abbreviate months (Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.) Newspaper articles need full article title in quotation marks, Newspaper, City (if not indicated), state in parentheses if not MT, date of article. No page number or author is needed. (Example: “Massacre or Battle?” Anaconda Standard, Feb. 1, 1867.)

Please email with any concerns or questions, as we are happy to assist you as you prepare your manuscript for consideration by MMWH. Contact: Diana Di Stefano (Diana.DiStefano@mt.gov, 406-444-0090).