Annual Essay Prize
The Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies gives two Susan Ford Wiltshire Awards each spring — one for the best undergraduate essay ($100 prize) and one for the best graduate essay ($200 prize). The submitted essays must be on a topic concerning gender, race, ethnicity, class, and/or sexuality. They must have been written during the previous calendar year.
The competition is open to students in all schools and colleges of the University, including graduating seniors.
- The essay can be written for any university course or requirement.
- It can use any methodology or approach.
- It must be prose, not poetry.
- Undergraduate submissions should be 8-10 pages (excluding bibliography).
- Graduate submissions should be 20-25 pages (excluding bibliography).
- We will not accept essays that have been previously published or considered for publication.
- We will not accept essays that are pending grades.
- One submission per person!
Essays are judged on the following criteria:
- Originality
- Creativity
- Insight
- Clarity of Analysis
- Quality of Writing
winners of the 2021 Susan Ford Wiltshire Award
Undergraduate: Joseph B. Miller, “Christian Nationalism and LGBTQ+ Cultural Flows”
Graduate: Benjamin B. Schwartz, “We, the People’s Plaza…”: Nashville’s 2020 Uprising and Its Implications for Activism”