Established by Roger (’76, ’79) and Karen Winston (’75), the annual Winston Honors Writing Awards recognize the best essays, research papers, and theses written by honors students.
The Best Student Paper Awards were established in honor of Professor John Portz, the founding director of the General Honors program at UMD. In 2013, Roger, Karen, and Emily Winston generously donated funds to support and expand the scope of this award for honors students. There are now three principal categories for these awards: (1) Best Short Essay, (2) Best Research Paper, and (3) Best Departmental Honors Thesis. These prestigious awards are coordinated by the faculty and staff of the Honors College.
The annual Winston Family Honors Writing Awards were established to recognize the writing of Honors students and to acknowledge the central role that faculty members play in mentoring Honors College students. We are grateful to Roger Winston (’76), Karen Winston (’75), and their daughter Emily Winston (’06), whose generous gift provides these merit awards. We deeply appreciate the Winston family’s investment in academic excellence and their commitment to the Honors College and the University of Maryland.
The student awards application can be found here. Submissions, including the faculty mentor recommendation statement, are due Friday, March 27, 2026, 11:59 p.m.
- Short Essay: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 1,250 to 2,500 words
- Research Paper: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 2,500 to 7,500 words
- Honors Thesis: Culminating research project undertaken in a departmental honors program
Links
Eligibility:
- Students must be in the Honors College or enrolled and progressing in a Departmental/College Honors program.
- Submissions for the Short Essay and Research Paper Awards must have been submitted for course credit during one of the following terms: Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026, and Spring 2026. This category is for short literary composition papers on a particular theme or topic. This category is not for research papers.
- Eligibility for papers written in H-option courses requires successful completion of the course with Honors credit (papers in the current Spring 2026 semester are not eligible).
- Submissions for Thesis Awards must represent work from the culminating research requirement in the Departmental Honors program during Spring 2026.
- Students must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at the time of submission to be eligible for these awards.
- Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to be eligible for these awards.
- Submissions must be in an academic writing format.
- One submission per student.
- Single-author papers.
Post expires at 11:59 pm on Friday, March 27, 2026.
