Graduate Essay Award Submissions


The English Department announces the following prizes to be awarded for the best essays written for English classes.  Essays can be submitted by faculty or students.  They should be e-mailed to Sharon Rose-Davis, English Department administrative assistant (sharon.rose-davis@villanova.edu).  

(1)   Undergraduate Award - The Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Award ($250), given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by an undergraduate student at Villanova.
(2)   Graduate Award - The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award ($250), given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by a graduate student at Villanova. 

Eligibility
Both competitions are open only to students taking courses at Villanova University.  To be eligible, essays must have been
(1)  written within a year preceding the deadline;
(2)  written either for a Villanova English course (2100 level or higher) or for a Villanova course (2000 level or higher) that was taught by a member of the Villanova English faculty.  Work submitted for a senior Honors thesis or an M. A. thesis is not eligible.

Format & Requirements
  • In addition to their essay, students should include a cover page including the course and professor for which the paper was written, as well as their local address, e-mail, and telephone number.  
  • Students should also submit the essay assignment or an approximation of the assignment.
  • Essays should be formatted in Times New Roman 12 (or equivalent font) and double-spaced; graduate essays are limited to 20 pages; undergraduate essays are limited to 12 pages.
  • Only one submission per student is allowed.
  • Notes should be organized in the parenthetical form recommended by the third edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 
  • Judges are looking for argumentative originality and rigor, elegance of writing, and interpretive incisiveness.  Winning papers tend to engage sources in addition to the primary text.

Send submissions as an attachment to sharon.rose-davis@villanova.edu.
The deadline for the Undergraduate Award is 4:30 pm on Friday, April 13th.
The deadline for the Graduate Award is 4:30 pm on Friday, April 20, 2018.


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