The UW American Heritage Center announces the Award for Undergraduate Research Using Primary Sources.

As your midterm papers come due and your final research papers start to take shape, keep the following opportunity in mind.

Each semester the AHC offers a cash prize to the best undergraduate research paper or project based substantially on materials — manuscripts, archives, rare books, photos, maps, audio, film and video, etc. — at the American Heritage Center.  The award is entirely funded by voluntary donations from faculty and staff at the American Heritage Center.

The deadline for submission is May 4, 2012.  Submit the entry to Mark Greene, Director, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3924, Laramie, WY 82071, 307-766-4114 (or mgreene@uwyo.edu).

In order to encourage a diverse group of applicants, projects of any form—research paper, creative writing, individual or group exhibits or web sites, art, etc.—will be considered, as long as they are created for academic credit (i.e., they must be academic in nature) and are based substantially on research done at the AHC.

• Every faculty member from every department is eligible to submit, on behalf of his/her students, two projects each semester.
• Students are welcome to initiate application so long as their submission is accompanied by a letter from a faculty member.
• Submission will consist of a copy of the product (or in the case of a web project, an active link to the full project) and a cover memo by the faculty member—both can be in electronic form, if in Word or IE-accessible markup.
• Submission signifies acceptance of the terms of submission, below.
• Projects other than traditional research papers must include a process paper, a 500-1000 word explanation of which sources were used and how, and a summary of the process of creating and developing the project.

Selection Process

A committee appointed by the AHC’s Director and comprised of its faculty and staff will select the winning project or projects.

Responsibilities of Award Recipient

As a condition of accepting the award, the student(s) must agree to allow the AHC to post his/her project on its website, so that future applicants can benefit from their example and so that the student will be able to cite the website on their curriculum vitae.  As a condition of accepting the award, the student(s) must agree to permit the AHC to publish his/her/their photo in its newsletter, Heritage Highlights, and in its Annual Report, in both instances to accompany reports of the award.  The decision of the judging committee will be final, though with the student’s permission excerpts from the committee’s evaluation of the award-winning submission will be posted on the website along with the paper or project itself.The award itself will be in the form of a certificate and a check for $500.00.  No restrictions are placed on the funds.

Best of luck with the rest of the semester!  We look forward to reviewing your submissions for the competition.