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Academics

Winston Family Honors Awards

Established by Roger ('76, '79) and Karen Winston (’75), the annual Winston Honors Writing Awards recognize the best essays, research papers, and theses written by honors students.



Award Application

The student awards application is now available.


Submissions, including the faculty mentor recommendation statement, are due Friday, April 1, 2022, 11:59 p.m.


Short Essay: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 1,200 to 2,500 words

Research Paper: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 2,500 to 7,500 words

Honors Thesis: Culminating research project undertaken in a departmental honors program 5,000 to 10,000 words

decorative title page for 2022 Winston Awards

Eligibility:

  • Students must be in the Honors College or enrolled and progressing in a Departmental/College Honors program.
  • Submissions for the Short Essay and Research Paper Awards must have been submitted for course credit during one of the following terms: Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, and Spring 2022.
  • Eligibility for papers written in H-option courses require successful completion of the course with Honors credit (papers in current Spring 2022 semester) are not eligible.
  • Submissions for Thesis Awards must represent work from the culminating research requirement in a departmental honors program during the 2021-22 academic year.
  • Students must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at the time of submission to be eligible for these awards.
  • Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to be eligible for these awards.
  • Submissions must be in an academic writing format.
  • One submission per student.
  • Single authorship papers.

Faculty Mentors

Faculty mentors are those persons who either taught the course for which a student's essay or research paper was written (in the case of both the Short Essay and Research Paper Awards), or who are the thesis advisor for the student (in the case of the Honors Thesis Award).


Submissions

Submissions will be accepted through April 1, 2022 as follows:

  • For all submissions: students must contact their faculty mentors to request a statement of support. Faculty mentors must complete a Faculty Statement Form by April 1, 2022.
  • Thesis Award submissions: complete the Student Application Form and attach in one file a 1-2pp. thesis abstract and a 20-40pp. thesis excerpt (preferably one or more chapters) by April 1, 2022 .
  • All submissions should be revised, polished, and suitable for consideration by an awards committee comprised of readers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.
  • Co-authored and/or group papers are not accepted.



group of students at ceremonyAwards Celebration

Winston Award awardees will receive a monetary prize and a certificate. Awardees and mentors will also be celebrated on the Honors College website and social media accounts. Student recipients will be recognized at the spring Citation Ceremony on April 29, 2022.



About the Awards

Mr. and Mrs. Winston at ceremonyThe annual Winston Family Honors Writing Awards were established to recognize Honors student writing and to acknowledge the central role that faculty members play in mentoring Honors College students. We are grateful to Roger Winston ('76), Karen Winston (’75), and their daughter Emily Winston (’06) whose generous gift provides these merit awards. We deeply appreciate the Winston family’s investment in academic excellence and their commitment to University Honors, the Honors College, and the University of Maryland.


Questions? Please contact us at WinstonAwards@umd.edu





Winston Family Honors Faculty Award

This award recognizes outstanding faculty advising, mentorship and supervision of University of Maryland Honors students. Nominees must be tenure-track or professional-track faculty members who serve, or have served as departmental honors directors and/or undergraduate thesis advisors. The recipient will receive a monetary award and a plaque. Department chairs or their designees should submit letters of nomination to WinstonAwards@umd.edu. The deadline is March 14, 2022. Questions? Please email Traci Dula at tdula@umd.edu.