Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Report Award

To be eligible for the award, the thesis/report must meet one of the following criteria:

• It will be submitted in final form to the Graduate School by April 25, 2025, for a degree to be awarded in May 2025.
• It was submitted for a degree awarded in August 2024 or December 2024.
• It was submitted after April 2024, for a degree awarded in May 2024.

Nominations should be submitted using the Graduate School’s online awards system, which you can access at this link.

Nominators are required to solicit all required documentation from their respective nominees and to upload it on the nominee’s behalf.

To complete the online application, collect the following:

• A cover letter from the chairperson of the GSC briefly describing why the thesis/report was chosen for nomination by the program
• Two letters of support from among the following:
  • The thesis supervisor
  • The graduate adviser
  • The department chair
  • A committee member
• One copy of the thesis, including the abstract

The faculty review committees will consider both the methodological and substantive aspects of the thesis or report, including the:

• Importance/impact of the subject;
• Originality/creativity of the work;
• Quality of the scholarship;
• Potential for publishing;
• Organization of the dissertation;
• Quality of the writing; and
• Other appropriate factors that denote excellence.

Individuals writing letters of support should be encouraged to keep these criteria in mind as they comment on the significance/major contribution of the thesis or report and the particular aspects of the thesis or report that distinguish it.