Public History Lab Research Coordinator Tom Law Wins Essay Prize
Law has been awarded the 2026 Graduate Student Essay Prize from the Canadian Association of Slavists
Tom Law, research coordinator at the Public History Lab and recent graduate of the Munk School's CEES Master's program, has been awarded the graduate-level Student Essay Prize by the Canadian Association of Slavists.
His paper, "Soccer under State Socialism: Propaganda or non-political?," which was submitted for the award by Professor Lilia Topouzova, analyses the political nature of football under state socialism during the Cold War. As a mass spectator sport with popular cultural appeal, the sport was available for both the regime and would-be dissenters to exploit, as a means of legitimizing communist rule or as a tool of opposition. Law explores whether football as escapism could ever be viewed as non-political under an inherently political and ideological state socialism. Using the case studies of East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, he concludes that football is a multifaceted and contested space, one that authorities and everyday individuals could exploit for their own political purposes but indeed choose not to.
Tom will receive a paid membership in the CAS, have his essay featured on the CAS website, and will be considered for publication in the association's journal, Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue canadienne des slavistes.
Congratulations to Tom on this recognition!
Photo: Dynamo Dresden celebrate winning the 1988-89 DDR-Oberliga title, a few months before the Berlin Wall came down. Photograph: AP. Via The Guardian
