Call for Papers: 2025 Dorothy Berkson Writing Award in Gender Studies

17th Annual Dorothy Berkson Writing Award in Gender Studies

This award recognizes written achievement (e.g., scholarly essays, research projects, creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, or playwriting) focused on gender and authored by a senior.

A monetary prize accompanies the award.

The award winners will present their papers at a reception on April 18, 2025  that celebrates their work. The presentation will be recorded for archival purposes. These awards are given in memory of Dorothy Berkson, professor emerita of English who taught at Lewis & Clark from 1981 until her retirement in 2004.

Submissions due by 5 p.m.

Friday, March 21, 2025

• Submissions may come from any field of study as long as gender is central to the work. We encourage student self-submissions with the understanding that they will also provide a faculty letter of support.

• The author must be a graduating senior in 24-25. Most often the work will be produced in the senior year, but outstanding work from one’s junior year will also be considered.

• Submissions (maximum 5,000 words) must be accompanied by a faculty recommendation that provides context for the work and speaks to its merits. We encourage students to submit an excerpt from a work longer than 5000 words (such as a capstone project). There is no need to revise the longer work. A simple excerpt will suffice.

• Awardees will be determined by a faculty committee

• Student submissions use this link to a Google form

• Faculty recommendations use this link to a Google form

Professor Berkson was a presenter in Lewis & Clark’s first Gender Studies Symposium. For the gender studies minor, she designed a course titled Gender and Aesthetic Expression, which she continued to teach for many years.

Info about past awardees