Zooarchaeology researcher Youri van den Hurk wins W.A. van Es prize 2020

On 19 November, during the Reuvens-digi day, it was announced that the W.A. van Es-prijs had been awarded to Youri van den Hurk for his PhD dissertation On the Hunt for Medieval Whales. The W.A. van Es-prijs is an incentive prize for young research talent in the field of Dutch archaeology. This archaeology prize is awarded alternatively to a dissertation or a master thesis. This year’s prize went to the best dissertation of the past two years.

About the W.A. van Es-prijs
The prize, which is awarded annually during the Reuvens Days, is accompanied by a certificate and a sum of €2000, made available by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. Due to the current Covid-19 crisis, the Reuvens Days 2020 were cancelled. The committee decided to award the W.A. van Es-prijs 2020 and to announce the winner during the Reuvens-digi-day. The award ceremony will take place during the Reuvens Day 2021, at the same time as the W.A. van Es-prijs 2021 for the best thesis over the period 2019-2021.

About Youri van den Hurk
Van den Hurk works as a research assistant in the field of Zooarchaeology at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology. His doctoral thesis On the Hunt for Medieval Whales focuses on medieval whaling in Northern and Western Europe in general, and the Netherlands in particular.