Paper Prizes

Girdhari Tikku Memorial Prize

Girdhari Tikku

A memorial fund has been established in honor of Professor Girdhari Tikku to encourage work in the areas of his abiding interests. From this fund, a prize of $500 will be awarded for a student essay on Persian or Indian culture, especially in comparison to Western culture or to each other, on any topic in the humanities including areas such as literature, linguistics, religion, history, philosophy, art and music.

Criteria: The prize will be awarded on the basis of:

  1. an unpublished essay (3000 - 12000 words)
  2. good academic standing
  3. one letter of recommendation from a UIUC faculty member.

Eligibility: any student, graduate or undergraduate, currently enrolled at UIUC for the AY 2008-2009. Former winners are not eligible to participate.

To apply, submit three hard copies of the paper along with a cover letter and CV to the Associate Director, CSAMES (221 International Studies Bldg, MC 489). The faculty referee should send a letter directly to CSAMES. Applications should be submitted by the student author of the paper.

Note: in order to ensure an anonymous reviewing process, no identifying information should appear on any portion of the paper except for in the cover letter.

For more information contact:
Ritu Saksena, Associate Director, CSAMES
Email: rsaksena@illinois.edu

Deadline: April 30, 2009

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The Clark Cunningham Undergraduate Essay Award

An Academic Research Paper Contest in Asian American Studies for Undergraduate Students, 2007-2008
Sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program (University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign)

In order to encourage undergraduate student research in Asian American Studies, the UIUC Asian American Studies Program is sponsoring an award for the best undergraduate student research paper in Asian American Studies. There are three available awards: $500 for first place; $350 for second; and $150 for third. The awards committee reserves the right not to grant any awards. Awardees will be recognized at the annual APA Leadership Awards Ceremony held during the Spring 2008 semester.

Application process:

Applicants must submit the following items. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure their applications are complete and submitted correctly:

  • an academic research paper on Asian American issues, minimum of 8 pages in length. This can be any academic paper (in any field such as history, ethnography, literary criticism, sociology) which advances the knowledge on Asian Pacific American issues.
  • paper must have been written by the applicant during his/her time as a student at UIUC;
  • a brief cover letter detailing when the paper was written and for what course (if applicable);
  • applicants must be a current UIUC undergraduate student or have graduated no earlier than December 2007;
  • in addition to the submission, one letter or email recommendation submitted by any UIUC faculty member. This can be directed to Viveka Kudaligama, Assistant Director for AAS.

Note: in order to ensure an anonymous reviewing process, no identifying information should appear on any portion of the paper except for in the cover letter.

Applications and relevant documents are due February 6, 2009 at the AAS office, 1208 W. Nevada MC 142, Urbana IL 61801. Attn: Mary Ellerbe, Undergraduate Awards Submission. Applications must be brought or put in campus mail to the AASP office. For more information, contact the AASP at 244-9530.

This award is named in recognition of Dr. Clark Cunningham, who currently is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Professor Cunningham was instrumental in building the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Illinois. He served as the vice chair of the unit from 1997-2000 and chair of the program's first curriculum committee. He taught the first Asian American studies course on campus "Asian American Experiences" in 1992 and is widely regarded on campus as an inspiring teacher, mentor, and colleague among his students.