The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award

Attention Villanova MA students!

If you have a piece of written work from one of your MA courses that you're especially proud of, please consider submitting it for consideration  for The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award. This award comes with a prize of $250 and is given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by a graduate student in a Villanova English course within the last 12 months.

The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award is given annually to the most distinguished graduate essay written in a Villanova English course. The Esmonde Award honors Margaret Powell Esmonde, who taught at Villanova from 1974 until her death in 1983. She was a specialist in Renaissance literature who also taught courses in science fiction and children’s literature. You can learn more about her here.

You can learn a bit more about last year's winner, Theo Campbell, MA '23, here.

Format for Submissions

• 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 email and a local mailing address.

• 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.

• Essays should be formatted in MLA or Chicago Style.

• Only one submission is allowed.

• Judges are looking for argumentative originality and rigor, elegance of writing, and interpretive incisiveness. Submissions should be carefully proofread.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 14, 2024. Submissions should be emailed as an attachment to Professor Joseph Drury.

Margaret Powell Esmonde