Women's Studies Program Writing Contest

The NU Women's Studies Program writing award is open to any Niagara University undergraduate who writes a critical paper about women’s issues.

Two awards will be given:

One to a first-year student
One to a sophomore, junior, or senior

Requirements:

Length for first-year students: 4-15 pages.
For sophomores, juniors and seniors: 6-15 pages.
A condensed version of an honors thesis chapter is acceptable.

Submissions will be evaluated on these criteria:

Paper must exhibit sensitivity to women’s issues.
Paper must have been written for an undergraduate course at Niagara University within the last three semesters.
For first-year students, paper must: a) exhibit high-quality research and appropriate documentation, or b) must closely examine a primary text about women or women's issues, or c) must critically examine a woman's issue.
For sophomores, juniors, and seniors, paper must: exhibit high-quality research, and include appropriate documentation.
Paper must exhibit high-quality writing and include a clear thesis.
Paper must be of interest to a general audience.
Resubmitted papers will not be accepted unless substantially revised.
Only one submission per student is allowed.
Submit four paper copies, double-sided.
Do not put any identifying information on your paper. When you submit your copies, you will complete a cover sheet with identifying information.
Submission deadline is Friday, February 11, 2022 in email to srisk@niagara.edu or at the 124 Timon Hall mailbox.

The winners will receive a monetary award at the annual Women's Studies Program Writing Contest Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, from 6-7:15 p.m. online.

Thank you to the College of Arts and Sciences for funding this award.

Previous winners of the NU Women's Studies Program Writing Award

Year	Winner	Winning Paper
2022	Madison Carroll	First-year prize, “Critiques of the Patriarchal House within the American Female Gothic: Analyzing Alice Cary’s ‘Uncle Christopher’s’”
2022	Adam Kiedrowski	Upper-level prize, “The Dilemma of Somali American Women Post 9/11: Origins, Life, and the Dichotomy of Identity in the Diaspora”
2021	Jillian Hagerty	First-year prize, “The Artwork of Hans Baldung Grien: Symbolism and 16^th-Century Misogynistic Beliefs”
2021	Ellen Rajnisz	Upper-class runner up prize, “Power Imbalance: Examining Ramifications of Historical Constitutional Patriarchy on Intersectional Equality Today”
2021	Lauren Mencobello	“The New Normal: Sexual Violence Against Women”
2020	Jennifer Macy	Co-honoree, upper-class category, “Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina: Unwanted Admiration and its Tolls.”
2020	Philip J. Sembert, III	Co-honoree, upper-class category, “’For Example’s Sake’: Societal Expectations in the Morgensons and the ‘Black Bess.’”
2020	Adam Kiedrowski	Winner, first-year category, “Ascending a Closed System.”
2019	Marissa Seib	“Refusing to Accept ‘No’: Dorothea Dix and the Asylum Reform Movement”
2019	Emily Mager	“Women: The Underrated Heroes of the American Civil War” (honorable mention)
2019	Olivia Takacs	“The Modern and Contemporary Pieta: Authentic Females’ Perspective of Motherhood” (honorable mention)
2018	Erika Ruggieri	"Equal Pay, Any Day"
2018	Marissa Seib	"The Madness Behind the Bly-lines"
2017	Sara Anderson	"Diversification of the Literary Canon"
2016	Sara Anderson	"Jane Eyre: Feminist of the Victorian Era"
2015	Emily Bork	"Hunger as a Dual Entity in Carmen Laforet's novel, Nada: A Literary Case Study of Franco's Post-Civil War Spain"
2015	Merve Oduncu	"Two Different Judiths: A Comparison of Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentilischi's Depictions"
2014	Sarah Page	"Under the British Raj: Women and Gender in British India"
2013	Jessica Yagoda	"Women Matter: The Importance of Women in Science and Engineering"
2013	Marissa Felser	"The Origin of Turkey's Headscarf Ban and the Implications for Women: Past and Present"
2012	Amy Young	"Media's Construction of the 'Perfect' Body: Taking a Closer Look at Weight Loss Supplements"
2012	Kelsey McGinty	"The Woman Caught in Adultery: The Story of Forgiveness, A Closer Look at John 7:53-8:12"
2011	Elizabeth Trzaska	"The Perception of Women in the Workplace"
2011	Kaitlin Harvey	"C'est un Monde de Femmes: Simone de Beauvoir's Unique Approach to Resisting a Patriarchal Society"
2010	Sebastian Galbo	"'A Landscape of Imperfections': Sylvia Plath's Quest for Dismantling and Reconstructing Natural Landscapes in Patriarchal Literary Traditions"
2010	Colline Landry	"When Is It Enough? How Media's Portrayal of Women Is Affecting Women in Real Life"
2009	Daphne Wyse	"I'll Cut Off My Hair and March Off to War"
2009	Sarah Chaudhry	"Rape Culture" (Honorable Mention)
2009	Lauren Ceier	"The Woman Behind the Mask: Living in a TIme In Which She Had No Voice" (Honorable Mention)
2008	Sarah Traphagen	"'The Walls of Her Forsaken Home Seemed to Encircle Her': Dorcas Bourne's Domestication of the Foreign in Hawthorne's 'Roger Malvin's Burial'"
2007	Kelly Jabar	“Women’s Rights in the Middle East: Islam vs. Culture”
2006	Betty Andropolis	“From Interdependence to ‘Female Parasitism’: The Evolution of Marriage, Motherhood and Women’s Loss of Identity due to the Rise of the ‘Sexuo-Economic Relationship’ ”
2006	Meghan Anson	“‘Cruel-hungry’: Appetite in Elizabeth Stoddard’s The Morgensons”
2005	Nola Cornett-Heidrich	“Gender Perceptions and Battered Women Who Kill: It Matters Who the Jurors Are”
2005	Kristen Wagner	“Manipulating the Account of Hannah Dustan”
2004	Katie Young	“Female Genital Mutilation: An Increasingly Global Concern”

Resource

About

Connect

Academics

Admissions

Apply to NU

Visit Niagara

Life on Campus

Alumni & Parents

Athletics

Women's Studies Program Writing Contest

Contact Info

Submission Info