An essay on Romantic Gothic Castles in Britain and Bohemia has just won a prize of £300 in a writing competition run by the British Czech & Slovak Association. The author is Barbara Peacock, of Beauworth in Hampshire.

The essay is a fascinating study of travels in Britain in the 19th century by rich noblemen from what was then the Austrian Empire. It centres on Jan Adolf of Schwarzenberg and Count František Harrach, and of the influence these had on the design of their castles when they got back home to Bohemia. The famous white mansion at Hluboká, inspired by Windsor Castle, is one of the best known but the essay deals with several others as well.

The essay describes how these Bohemian noblemen were influenced not only by the medieval and Romantic Gothic buildings they saw in England but also by the blast furnaces, mines and factories of the Industrial Revolution.

Barbara is currently researching the great houses of Bohemia and Moravia, and regularly leads tours of the Czech Republic. The founder of Wessex Fine Art Study Courses, she was formerly Assistant Keeper in the Department of Fine Art at Birmingham City Art Gallery and more recently Adult Education Tutor in Fine Art at Southampton University.

The BCSA aims to raise public awareness in Britain of Czech and Slovak life in all its aspects -- history, politics, science, economies, arts and literature. The competition is for writing about the links between Britain and the lands now comprising the Slovak and Czech Republics, or about society in transition in the Republics since the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

A panel of experts in Britain, Slovakia and the Czech Republic judged Barbara's entry the winner, against an impressive range of entries. Entries came mainly from those three countries but also from as far afield as Bulgaria and the USA.

A second prize was awarded to Charles Sabatos, of the University of Michigan, for an essay on English translations of the 17th century Czech thinker Comenius. Joint second was Susan Reynolds, of Oxford, for an account of the life of Elizabeth Jane Weston, an English poet in 16th century Prague, who was married to Edward Kelley, one of the English practitioners in the occult at the Emperor Rudolf II's court.

Barbara was presented with her prize at the Association's Annual Dinner at the Marlborough Hotel in London in November.

The BCSA has decided to repeat the competition in 2005. For more information e-mail prize@bcsa.co.uk or ring +44 (0) 1892 543206.