Literatures, Languages & Cultures

Undergraduate Awards 2018 open for entry

Highly Commended 2017 entrant, Sarah Thomson, talks to us about the submission process and how it feels to be selected in the awards.

Photo of Sarah Thomson
Sarah Thomson

The Undergraduate Awards is an annual programme recognising top undergraduate work, sharing this work with a global audience, and connecting students across cultures and disciplines.

The programme is open to all penultimate and final year undergraduate students on a degree programme, as well as those who graduated in 2017.

There are 25 different categories, and online submissions are invited in the form of outstanding academic papers, research, or visual arts portfolios based on coursework.

Sarah Thomson, who graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) degree in English Literature and History in 2017, was Highly Commended in last year’s awards alongside fellow English Literature students, Heather Booton and Heather Milligan.

Transforming an essay into an awards submission

“I was delighted and pleasantly surprised to be Highly Commended in the Literature category” says Sarah, who received the 2017 Janet S. Christie Bequest in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh last year, and is now doing a masters in American Studies at the University of Glasgow.

“The essay I submitted - “The roof off my head and the clothes off my back”: Using clothing to explore social and political concerns in Nesbit’s 'The Railway Children' and Grahame’s 'The Wind in the Willows' - was actually an adapted version of one of my coursework essays.”

“I loved writing the original essay, and was glad to find an excuse to revise it for submission somewhere. My tutor, Jonathan Wild, was a great source of support and encouragement during the semester I was in his class, and his feedback was invaluable when it came to revising the original essay. I'm sure my classmates would attest to what a fun semester we had, especially during the weeks when we got to read children's literature!”

“The process of applying [to the Undergraduate Awards] was really straightforward, so I'd encourage anyone with eligible coursework to consider submitting something. I certainly didn't expect to be shortlisted, but it's a lovely feeling to know that your work has been deemed to be of a high standard by a panel of judges!”

The deadline for submitting to the Undergraduate Awards 2018 is 12th June 2018.

Find out more on the Undergraduate Awards website

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