Writing Excellence Awards

The Writing Excellence Awards are given annually to encourage and reward good writing in all disciplines. The contest opens in January each year (for papers written in the previous calendar year for courses taken at the University of Puget Sound). Winners are usually announced in April. The Writing Excellence Awards are funded by the Hearst Endowment for Writing, established through grants from the Hearst Foundation.

The 2026 Writing Excellence Awards:

Up to ten prizes ($250 each) will be awarded for papers written in the 2025 calendar year in the following categories:

Arts and Humanities

Art & Art History; Asian Languages & Cultures; Asian Studies; Greek, Latin, & Ancient; Mediterranean Studies; English; Environmental Arts & Humanities; French & Francophone Studies; Gender & Queer Studies; German Studies; Hispanic Studies; Interdisciplinary Humanities; Latin American Studies; Latina/o Studies; Music; Philosophy; Religion, Spirituality, & Society; Theatre Arts

Social Sciences and History

African American Studies; Business & Leadership; Communication Studies; Crime, Law, and Justice; Economics; Education Studies; Environmental Policy & Decision Making; History; International Political Economy; Politics & Government; Psychology; Science, Technology, Health, and Society; Sociology & Anthropology

Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Data Analytics; Earth & Environmental Science; Exercise Science; Mathematics; Neuroscience; Physics

First-year Seminars

Any paper written by a first-year student for a CONN 1XX or a CCS seminar

Connections

Courses that fulfill the Connections core requirement

KNOW

Courses that fulfill the KNOW core requirement and address issues of Knowledge, Identity, Power, and/or Race. Papers submitted in this category may also be submitted in another category

Graduate Programs

500 and 600 level courses in Education/Counseling; Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Public Health; Teaching
 

Rules for the Contest

Papers written as part of the requirement for courses taken at the University of Puget Sound during Spring, Summer, or Fall 2025 are eligible. Papers of any length may be submitted; short papers are as likely to win as long ones. Papers in any category written in languages other than English are welcome and encouraged.

Students may submit no more than one paper in each category. The same paper may be submitted to two categories only if one of the categories is the KNOW category. Students should submit two versions of the paper: a clean copy with no comments and the original paper with the professor’s comments.

Papers submitted may be single-authored or co-authored. Students who submit co-authored papers must obtain written permission from all their co-authors. If you are submitting a co-authored paper, you will need to submit a permission form signed by your co-author(s). If your co-author is not on campus, please instead include an email message from your co-author(s) indicating their consent. In the event that a co-authored paper wins an award, all co-authors will share the credit, and the prize money will be divided equally among them.
 

Questions

If you have any questions about the process or the prizes, please contact Professor Ariela Tubert (atubert@pugetsound.edu).
 

Award announcements

Results of the competition will be announced the first week of April, and award winners in each category will be honored at an academic celebration toward the end of the Spring 2026 semester.
 

Winning papers from recent years

A list of recent winners can be found below and a collection of past winning papers can be found at Puget Sound digital collections.
 

Departmental writing awards

In addition to the university-wide Writing Excellence awards, many departments also have departmental writing awards. Students are welcome and encouraged to submit papers to both university-wide and department-specific writing competitions.