Prizes

prizes@berkeley.edu

Please note: The Prizes Office will be closed from May 22 through September 3, 2013. We will reopen on September 4, 2013.

The Prizes Program at UC Berkeley is an important forum for rewarding creative expression and scholarly achievement by Cal's finest students. Winners receive both recognition and a cash prize, which is coordinated with the winner's financial aid package, if any. Prizes are administered under the direction of the Academic Senate Committee on Prizes.

Prize competitions are open to students of any major. Students must be enrolled full-time in a degree-granting program for at least one regular semester of the academic year (not including Summer Sessions). Filing for a degree does not constitute enrollment for that academic year. Visiting students are not eligible for prizes.

Successful, even prominent, artists and poets in our society have found that winning an award at Berkeley was a pivotal experience in their artistic careers. Copies of the essays and poetry submissions chosen to receive prizes are archived at the Bancroft Library at the end of each year.

For the 2013-14 academic year, the general deadline for all contests (except the Greek and Latin Translation contests, the Eisner Film and Video contest, and the Eisner Photo-Imaging contest) is Monday, December 2, 2013 at 4 p.m. Please check the web pages below for specific details about each prize.

Category

Estimated Amount Requirements
Film / Video    
Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Film and Video $2,000 minimum Create a film or video
Folklore    

Jeanne P. Steager Memorial Prize in Folklore

$100 - $50 Demonstrate originality, excellence and importance to the field of folklore
Greek / Latin Translation    
George Morey Richardson Latin Translation Prize $1,500 - $500 Translate a classical English passage into Ciceronian Latin
Thomas G. Rosenmeyer Greek Translation Prize $500 Translate an English passage into classical Greek style
Jewish Studies    
Anne and Benjamin Goor Prize in Jewish Studies $1000 Write an essay
Music    
Nicola De Lorenzo Prize in Music Composition $1,000 Create a musical composition
Philosophy    
Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller Essay Prize in Philosophy $200 Write an essay
Photo-Imaging    
Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Photo-Imaging $2,000 minimum Submit a photograph
Poetry  
Academy of American Poets Prize $100 Write a poem
Emily Chamberlain Cook Prizes in Poetry $500 - $300 Write a poem
Elizabeth Mills Crothers Prizes in Literary Composition

$600 - $250

Write a story or play
Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose

$2.000

Create a collection of poetry
Samuel C. Irving Prize for American Wit and Humor $750 Write an anecdote, story, poem, drawing, or play illustrative of American wit and humor
Dorothy Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Lyric Poetry $2,000 - $1,000 Create a lyric poem
Joan Lee Yang Memorial Poetry Prizes $500 - $250 Write a poem
Political Science    
Philo Sherman Bennett Prize in Political Science $1,000 Write an essay
Prose    
Elizabeth Mills Crothers Prizes in Literary Composition $600 - $250 Write a story or play
Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose $2,000 Create a prose submission consisting of a substantial volume of work
Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Essay Prize $1,000 - $750 Write an essay
Samuel C. Irving Prize for American Wit and Humor $750 Write an anecdote, story, poem, drawing, or play illustrative of American wit and humor
Julia Keith Shrout Short Story Prize $400 in prizes Write a short story