Essay Contests for Ph.D. Students

From Indopedia

• Fredric M. Jablin Dissertation Award: Faculty honors new scholars annually

-- 2009 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: http://jepson.richmond.edu/programs/jda/index.html

-- This award recognizes outstanding new scholarship in the field. It is given in partnership with the International Leadership Association. Annually, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond seeks submissions for the Fredric M. Jablin Dissertation Award. Submissions can be on any topic and from any discipline as long as they demonstrate substantial insights and implications for the study of leadership.

-- The recipient is honored at the annual conference of the International Leadership Association where he or she presents their dissertation research. The recipient of the award will also receive a $1000 prize, one-year membership to the ILA, and conference registration and travel expenses to the ILA conference.

-- Submissions are due in early August. Applicants submit a letter of interest, a three- to five-page abstract of a substantive dissertation chapter (specifically, the chapter that best represents the author's dissertation), a brief biography and verification of the dissertation defense date (e.g., a letter from the dissertation advisor). The award committee will contact semi-finalists by mid-September to request a full dissertation chapter.

-- The Jepson School endeavors to further scholarship and educate students and others for and about leadership through curricula, events and programs. In 1999, the School implemented its annual Dissertation Awards, which are named for Dr. Fredric M. Jablin, who died in 2004.

• Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics

-- Sponsor: Catt (Carrie Chapman) Center for Women and Politics

-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor provides an award designed to encourage and reward scholars embarking on significant research in the area of women and politics. The committee selects up to two projects to receive a prize of $1,000 each and two projects for honorable mention recognition of $500 each.

-- Deadline: 10/01/2008

-- E-mail: cattcntr@iastate.edu

-- Program URL: http://www.las.iastate.edu/CattCenter/cattprize.shtml

-- OBJECTIVES: Research projects submitted for prize consideration can address any topic related to women and politics.

-- ELIGIBILITY: Scholars at any level, including graduate students and junior faculty members, can apply.

-- FUNDING: The prize includes a $1,000 cash award for each project selected. Honorable mention prizes of $500 per project are sometimes given. In addition to the cash prize, recipients may be invited to Iowa State University to present an overview of their research.

• Institute for Humane Studies: Essay Contest

-- Harper Academic Research Competition: Recognizing the best published and unpublished work by graduate and law students on progress, prosperity, and human flourishing. $2,000 in prizes and the possibility of presenting research at the 2008 Social Change Workshop. Deadline: January 31, 2008.

-- Further information is available at http://www.theihs.org/grants_and_contest/id.908/default.asp

• Robert J. McNamara Student Award

-- Sponsor: Association for the Sociology of Religion

-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor awards a cash prize of $500 to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion.

-- Deadline: 06/01/2008

-- Contact: Professor William Mirola

-- Address: Department of History and Social Science, Marian College, 3200 Cold Spring Road, Indianapolis, IN 46222-1997, U.S.A.

-- E-mail: mirola@marian.edu

-- Program URL: http://www.sociologyofreligion.com/MCNAMARA2004.html

-- OBJECTIVES: The sponsor awards a cash prize to recognize an outstanding student paper in the sociology of religion.

-- ELIGIBILITY: Authors must be currently enrolled students who have not defended the Ph.D. when the paper is submitted. Membership in the sponsor organization is required either at the time of application or previously.

• Sylvia H. Forman Prize

-- Sponsor: Association for Feminist Anthropology

-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor invites graduate and undergraduate students to submit a paper in feminist anthropology in competition for the Sylvia H. Forman Prize. Winning papers receive a certificate and a cash award and will have their paper summaries published in the Anthropology Newsletter.

-- Deadline: 06/01/2008

-- Contact: Dorothy Hodgson, Prize Chair, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, 131 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, U.S.A.

-- E-mail: dhodgson@rci.rutgers.edu

-- Program URL: http://sscl.berkeley.edu/~afaweb/forman.html

-- OBJECTIVES: The sponsor encourages papers in all four subfields of anthropology. Papers may be based on research within a wide variety of topics including (but not limited to) feminist analysis of women's work, reproduction, sexuality, religion, language and expressive culture, family and kin relations, economic development, gender and material culture, gender and biology, women and development, globalization, and the intersectionality of gender, race, and class. Papers that have been submitted for publication but have not yet been accepted may be eligible as entries, but authors of such papers should contact the Prize Chair to confirm eligibility before the submission deadline. Already accepted or published articles are not eligible.

-- ELIGIBILITY: Only one submission per student will be accepted.

-- FUNDING: The winners, one graduate and one undergraduate student, will receive a certificate, cash award ($1,000 graduate and $500 undergraduate) and have their essay summaries published in the Anthropology newsletter. Prizes will be awarded at the AFA Business Meeting at the AAA Annual Meeting, November 19 - 23, 2008, in San Francisco, CA. The AFA will contribute towards the cost of the winners' travel to the conference in the cases of demonstrated need.