Awards
Wilson Essay Contest and Sturm Research Prize
The John D. Wilson / Phi Beta Kappa Essay Contest
The Mu Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa invites applications for the John D. Wilson Essay Contest to recognize excellence in undergraduate writing. The selection committee will award a prize of $500 for the best analytical or interpretive essay.
All interested undergraduate students should read the rules and entry form carefully before submitting to the prize. Essay rules and the entry form are available below.
Note that your name must not appear within the essay itself, but only on the entry form. Essays, with the entry form copy-pasted on the first page, should be emailed to Mimi Harris, Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 (extended). Please include "Wilson Contest" in the email's subject field.
Address any questions to Tom Ewing.
The Albert Lee Sturm Award for Faculty Excellence
The Phi Beta Kappa Sturm Awards honor the memory of Albert Lee Sturm (1911-1998), a founding member of Virginia Tech’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and a University Research Professor in Political Science. Through these awards, the Mu of Virginia chapter recognizes excellence in research and in the creative arts performed by our university’s faculty. The award for creative arts will not be offered in 2025-26; only the research award will be accepting nominations.
The Sturm Awards honor excellent work that is recognized as significant by a wider, educated audience, not just a narrow group of specialists. Previous creative arts awards have gone to original works of fiction and poetry, musical compositions, stage and lighting design, and an intermedia arts project. Books recognized by the research award have spanned the humanities, sciences, and social sciences on topics ranging from Moses to Darwin to the White House staff.
Awards consist of cash prizes to be presented at the Phi Beta Kappa spring initiation ceremony.
Who may be nominated?
Virginia Tech faculty (full- and part-time, tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track, active and retired). Nominees need not be members of Phi Beta Kappa.
What may be nominated?
Work should be nominated within three years of its original publication, presentation, or exhibition. A work may be nominated more than once. Recipients of the award must wait at least five years before submitting another work for consideration.
Who nominates?
Appropriate department-level committees (e.g., personnel, promotion and tenure, executive) or department chairs/heads. Self-nominations and nominations from colleagues are also accepted.
How to nominate?
The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
To nominate a faculty member and their creative work, please prepare one file (PDF or DOCX preferred) with the following items:
- Letter of nomination that points out the significance of the work’s contribution to liberal learning and its appeal to wider educated audiences. In the first paragraph of the letter, please include the following elements:
- Name of Nominee
- Department/Program of Nominee
- Title of Nominated Work
- Date of Publication
- Current curriculum vitae of the nominee;
- Reviews may be included, but are optional.
Enclose with the above materials as a separate file:
A copy of the work (PDF version of the book, offprint(s), photocopy) or a high-quality representation of the work (photographs, video or audio recording, etc.)
Send one electronic copy of the completed packet by email to Ashley Shew with a Subject Line that indicates this is for the Sturm Prize. If you need to send a physical copy of the book or other materials through campus mail: Ashley Shew, Chair, Sturm Research Prize Committee, STS (0247), Lane Hall.
Address questions to Tom Ewing, President, Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, Virginia Tech.