Undergraduate Thesis Research Fellowships
The Undergraduate Program offers four fellowships to help supplement the research efforts of rising seniors pursuing an honors thesis in the English Department. Two prizes of $750 each are available to rising seniors who have been accepted to write a creative thesis, and two prizes of $750 each are available to rising seniors who have an approved critical thesis proposal and have secured a faculty thesis advisor. The Undergraduate Program Administrator will notify rising seniors of due dates and application requirements late in junior spring.
Continuing Education Grants
The Le Baron Russell Briggs Grant for Continued Critical Literary Studies is a substantial financial award to support formal graduate studies in literature, with a preference for studies in English literature. Students must have a distinguished overall record as an honors concentrator and will be notified of their eligibility for such awards in March of the senior year.
The Edward Eager Grant for Continued Studies in Creative Writing is a substantial financial award of to support formal graduate studies in creative writing. This grant is possible through a bequest of Jane Eager, “in memory of [her] late husband, Edward Eager, Class of 1935,” and is used to award and support creative writing. Students will be notified of their eligibility for such awards in March of the senior year.
Le Baron Russell Briggs Traveling Prizes & Thesis Prize
In accordance with the terms of the Sanford H. E. Freund Fund, the Department of English awards prizes named in memory of Le Baron Russell Briggs, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, Emeritus.
Le Baron Briggs Traveling Prizes in English will be awarded as funds allow. These are prizes to help support “a year of literary studies [here or] abroad” (not necessarily as an enrolled student in a university) and are awarded to a graduating senior or seniors with a distinguished overall record as an honors concentrator. Students will be notified of their eligibility for such awards in March of the senior year.
The Le Baron Russell Briggs Honors Thesis Prize in English will be chosen from the outstanding senior honors theses in the Department of English. Theses will be considered without special application by students.
Elocution Prizes
2024 Boylston Prizes for Elocution
Please direct any questions about the elocution prizes to Case Kerns, cqkerns@fas.harvard.edu.
The Boylston Prizes for Elocution are awarded through a competition “for the delivery of memorized selections from English, Greek, or Latin literature,” not to exceed five minutes in length. It is open to all Harvard sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Cash prizes awarded to first and second place. Students interested in competing need to email a copy of their selection as a word document to cqkerns@fas.harvard.edu (acceptable file types: .pdf, .doc, .docx) on or before the deadline. Please use the subject line “2024 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT BOYLSTON PRIZE.”
Submission Deadline: Tuesday, March 19 by 5pm.
Final Round: Monday, April 15 at 5pm
The following are examples of submissions from past participants in the Boylston Prize Competition: Song of Myself, Walt Whitman; The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, lines 413-480; A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf; Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson, lines 1-70; Henry V, prologue, Shakespeare; Nelly Myers, A.R. Simmons; Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln; Medea, Euripides, lines 465-498.
Annual Departmental Critical and Creative Prizes
The deadline for the 2024 English Department Critical & Creative Prizes is Thursday, March 28 by 5pm.
Please direct any questions about the annual departmental critical and creative prizes to Case Kerns, cqkerns@fas.harvard.edu.
ATTENTION: We will not be accepting hard copies of English Department prize submissions this year. Please email all prize submissions to cqkerns@fas.harvard.edu with the subject: “2024 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT PRIZES”. In lieu of an envelope with your name containing your pseudonym inside, include your pseudonym(s) and name in the body of your email. Please attach your submission materials as word documents (doc, docx) or pdfs. All other submission guidelines remain the same.
Submission Guidelines
- The real name/identity of the student should not be written anywhere on any submission.
- Each submission must be identified by a pseudonym/alias of the candidates’ choosing. Please group creative writing submissions under one pseudonym. See special instructions below.
- Please include your pseudonym(s) in the body of your email.
- If a student is making multiple submissions they must use a different pseudonym (and provide a separate identity envelope) for each submission. Do not make multiple submissions for creative writing prizes. See special instructions below.
- All students submitting to English Dept. prizes are required to fill out a prize form. This form ("Harvard English Deprtment Prize From") can be downloaded as word document below.
Special Instructions for Creative Writing Prizes
For all creative writing prizes that require submission, please submit one packet of up to five poems and/or one short story. All entries will automatically be considered for all eligible prizes.
For further information on any of the prizes, please contact the Department of English directly. For more detailed information on prizes at Harvard, please consult the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Prize Office.
Harvard English Department Prize Form | 25 KB |