Institut National de l'Audiovisuel - Ina Theque Award

INAthèque Awards

You will receive a cash prize for research in the field of audiovisual or digital media. The French Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA) awards these prizes every year. There are two of them. The Research Award (Prix de la recherche) carries a prize of 4,000 EUR and is awarded for a completed, outstanding piece of work, such as a doctoral thesis. The Encouragement Award (Prix d'encouragement) carries a prize of 2,000 EUR and is awarded for a recently completed piece of work at Master’s level. Both prizes come with support to raise awareness of your work: the INA may publish it, interview you in its media magazine and promote it. The jury may also award honourable mentions, which do not come with a cash prize.

Who can apply

• Level: For the research prize, a completed, high-calibre piece of work, such as a doctoral thesis or a paper by an established academic. For the Encouragement Prize, a Master’s thesis 2 (research-based Master’s, professionally-oriented Master’s or equivalent qualification, including final theses from the École nationale des Chartes).
• Topic: Your work is based on the INA’s audiovisual collections and/or involves the analysis of audiovisual or digital media.
• Field of study: Open to all disciplines.
• Language: Your work must be written in French.
• How recent: Your work must have been finished within 18 months (Research Award) or 1 year (Encouragement Award) before the deadline. For defended theses, the defence date counts.
• Nationality: All nationalities can apply.
• Not eligible: Work commissioned or carried out by INA, or services provided as part of its ‘INA Sup’ training programme.

How to apply

Send your dossier by email by 20 July. It includes the full work as a PDF, a two-page summary, the signed participation form, a CV, and either your defence report (Research Award) or a letter of support from your supervisor (Encouragement Award). INA first checks eligibility and pre-selects based on the summaries. At least two jury members then read the shortlisted works before the jury decides.

How realistic are your chances?

This prize is awarded on a highly selective basis. Your work must be written in French, be recent and deal with audiovisual or digital media, meaning that very few people meet the criteria. If you fulfil these conditions and your research is well-founded and original, your chances are good. The jury favours a clear, well-researched piece of work over a well-known name, and only one or two prizes are awarded each year.