Loyola University Chicago

Department of Theology

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2021 - 22 Annual Undergraduate Paper Competition

2021 - 22 Annual Undergraduate Paper Competition

2021 - 22 Undergraduate Paper Competition

The LUC Department of Theology is pleased to announce its undergraduate paper competition. Three prizes are awarded annually to encourage publication-level work in the fields of theology and religious studies. The Department wishes to reward talented undergraduates who have engaged in original work in a Theology or Religious Studies class here at LUC. Papers will be classified and entered into one of three contests based on whether the class in which the writing emerged was a 100, 200, or 300-level course.

A selection committee appointed by The Theology Department’s Undergraduate Learning Committee (ULC) will choose the winners. Each winner will receive a check for $50, along with public recognition on the Theology Department’s website, and recognition at our Annual Awards Ceremony.

Eligibility

Each paper must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a paper authored by an undergraduate student at LUC in good standing at the time of the award or have graduated in the semester preceding the announced award.
  • Be a paper that emerges out of a 100, 200, or 300-level class within the preceding two academic semesters from which the award is announced. For example, for prizes awarded in the Spring Semester of 2022, the papers must have emerged out of a class in either the Spring Semester of 2022 or the Fall Semester of 2021.
  • For the 100-level prize, submission of annotated bibliographies and research proposals or otherwise creative projects are encouraged and will also receive full consideration with completed papers.  
  • All submissions must be electronic. Papers should not exceed 20 double- spaced pages, not including bibliography. To support blind review, no identifying information or acknowledgments should be contained in the manuscript. As a result, submitted papers should be accompanied by a cover letter containing (1) the paper title; (2) the competition into which it is being entered (100, 200 or 300 level); (3) the student’s full name and contact information, including postal mailing address, phone number, and email address; (4) the title of the class and name of instructor of the LUC Theology class from which the paper originated. The committee chair will send the submitted paper and the cover letter to the ULC committee members for review.
  • Entrants can submit to only one category per year.

Notification of competition results will be made in April. It is the entrant’s responsibility to keep the prize coordinator updated as to any change in his or her email contact information.

Deadlines

Papers will be accepted from October 15, 2021 until March 15, 2022. The winners will be announced in April of 2022.

Please send submissions by email to Dr. Bret Lewis (blewis1@luc.edu). Please direct any queries about the award or alternative submission arrangements to him as well.