Call for Applicants | 2025 Undergraduate Prizes

The application cycle for 2025 essay prizes and awards is now open to all interested undergraduates at Columbia College and Barnard College. For more information, see the linked calls

The Queer Studies Award, inaugurated in 1994, honors an undergraduate for excellence in research and writing in Queer Studies. Winning submissions demonstrate clarity, originality, ambition, and are informed by or engaged in critical issues in Queer Studies.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Award, inaugurated in 2007, honors an undergraduate for excellence in research and writing in the fields of Women and Gender Studies. Winning submissions demonstrate clarity, originality, ambition, and are informed by or engaged in critical issues in Women’s and Gender Studies.

The Feminist to the Core Essay Prize, inaugurated in 2017, is awarded annually to the undergraduate who is judged by the ISSG prize committee to have written the best essay on any topic in Feminist or Queer Studies in one of the following Core courses: 

- Literature Humanities

- Contemporary Civilization
- Art Humanities
- Music Humanities

The deadline for submission is 11:59PM on Thursday, April 10, 2025. Undergraduates are welcome to compete for all three awards in a given year, but may not submit the same essay for consideration for multiple awards.