Nikole Snover

My courses in Women’s Studies have given me the voice and tools to go out in the world and create change to better our society.
- Nikole Snover ’05, English major, women’s studies minor

Sally Boland Essay Prize

Awarded by the Plymouth State University Women’s Studies Council

A cash prize of $200 will be awarded in the Spring  for the best scholarly essay or paper which addresses a topic or theme related to Women’s Studies as a discipline and/or to the lives and work of women. A $100 prize will be awarded to one runner-up, and four $25 Honorable Mentions may also be given.

An essay need not to have been written for a specific course, and may be from any area or discipline, so long as its scholarly focus is connected to and/or informed by women’s studies. By “scholarly,” we mean to indicate work which is research-based, or analytical, or thesis driven — work which contributes in some way to academic discourse. Examples of such essays might include: literary analysis of the major work of a woman writer; research paper about the biology of gender; a media analysis paper focusing on women’s roles in film and television; historical research paper focusing on women in the United States Senate. Many possibilities exist, of course; if you are uncertain about whether your essay meets the criteria for “scholarship,” submit it nonetheless.

Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and carefully edited. One clean copy should be submitted. The essays are blind-reviewed by a team of faculty members; the faculty members will not know the names of the authors when they are evaluating and judging the papers. Therefore, the paper must have a separate title page with the title of the paper, name of the author, and contact information. The first page of the paper should have the title repeated at the top of the page. The author’s name should appear no place in the paper except the title page. Essay authors must be currently enrolled undergraduate PSU students.  If you have previously submitted work for the Sally Boland Scholarly Essay Prize, please do not resubmit it unless extensive revisions have been made. Rubrics can be found here.

Fall 2011 Submission Deadline: December 9th
Spring 2012 Submission Deadline: March 30
 Papers may be submitted electronically to eahl@mail.plymouth.edu, or you may submit a hard copy of your work to Professor Liz Ahl through campus or regular mail at MSC 40.  If you have any questions, you may contact  Dr. Ahl at (603) 535-2595, or any member of the Women’s Studies Council.

This prize is sponsored by the Women’s Studies Council and by the Writing Across the Curriculum program.

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