Presidential Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Presentations

Presidential Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Papers

Presidential Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Papers are given at the Annual Meeting. Eligible are undergraduate and graduate students whose papers are accepted on the program and who will not have received their Ph.D. by the time the paper is read. The full text of the oral talk is submitted in advance of the meeting and an ad hoc committee selects the winner. The award (for each undergraduate student $100 plus a one-year membership in CAMWS, for each graduate student $200 plus a one-year membership in the Society for Classical Studies) is presented at the annual business meeting.

There are two criteria for evaluation: (1) the quality of the scholarly argument, including the importance of the topic, the originality of the treatment, and demonstrated familiarity with scholarship; (2) indication of an effective oral presentation, based on the quality of the writing, overall organization, and interest to an audience. Any undergraduate or graduate student whose abstract has been accepted by the program committee may submit a complete text of the paper for consideration for this award.

The paper submitted for this award should be in the form actually to be delivered at the meeting (not a longer seminar paper on which the CAMWS paper is based). The paper should include a cover page with the following information: title of the paper, name of undergraduate or graduate student, academic affiliation, and email address. Please do not submit a handout or include footnotes. All quotations should be included in the body of the paper and a bibliography provided at the end.

Those wishing to be considered for this award at the upcoming CAMWS meeting should submit their completed paper electronically to the CAMWS President at president@camws.org by  February 15.

2024 Graduate Winners:

Presidential Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation

The Presidential Award for the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation is given at the Annual Meeting. Eligible are undergraduate students whose poster is accepted on the program and who will not have graduated by the time of the annual meeting. The award (with a prize of $100 plus a one-year membership in CAMWS) is presented at the annual business meeting. 

There are two criteria for evaluation: (1) the effectiveness of the visual presentation, including the design of the poster, the originality of the treatment, the significance of the topic and conclusions, and the quality of analysis displayed; and (2) the effectiveness of the oral discussion of the topic during the specified poster session, including the clarity of presentation, demonstrated knowledge of the topic, familiarity with recent scholarship, and the ability to engage with the audience in responding to questions.

2024 Poster Prize Winner

Campbell Rosener (Loyola University Chicago) "Inscribing Identity: The Development of the Latin Script in Ancient Rome and Early Modern Vietnam"

Srija Dey (University of Florida) "Bosom Buddies: Female Friendship in Senecan Tragedy"

2024 Poster Prize Honorable Mentions

Katherine Griffith (Indiana University Bloomington) "What's in a Name: Autobiographical Memory and Identity in the Erotic Graffiti of Roman Pompeii"

Laurence Pavlik (Augustana College) "Missing the Forest for the Trees: Identifying the Italian Sacred Grove"

Previous Winners

2023: Rachel Becker (University of the Puget Sound, "Infelix Dido: Teaching Suicide Prevention Alongside Virgil’s Aeneid"

2022: Leejay Guyton (Metropolitan State University -Denver), "Ludus Latrunculorum Reconstructed"

2021:  Isabella Blanton (University of Michigan), "For the Favor of Venus Pompeiana: A Gendered Analysis of Venus Graffiti in Pompeii"

2020:  Kelsey Myers (University of Arkansas), "Isis as a Commercial Goddess? An Analysis of Egyptian Imagery in Pompeian Shops and Workshops"