Ruth Murray Essay Prize in Women's Studies, Feminist Criticism, Gender or Sexuality Studies.

$500 to a UChicago undergraduate for an essay on women's studies, feminist criticism, and gender studies.

The Ruth Murray Prize will be awarded for the best essay written by a University of Chicago undergraduate student in the area of women's studies, feminist criticism or gender studies. The $500 prize sponsored is in memory of Ruth Murray, who died in 1991, having served as Bibliographer for the Education, Psychology, Sociology and Women's Studies Collections at the Regenstein Library for many years. Ruth Murray had a strong interest in encouraging scholarship in women's studies and often served as a stimulus and facilitator of work by students and faculty in the area. It is the intent of the Ruth Murray Prize Committee that the essay competition sustain and encourage scholarship in women's studies, as Ruth Murray did during her lifetime.

Application Process: 

To enter the competition, a student should submit an electronic copy of the paper to:

Sarah Tuohey, Student Affairs Administrator at stuohey@uchicago.edu.

In addition, please ask a faculty member to email Sarah Tuohey with a brief endorsement of your submission.

Please include the following information in/with your submission:

  • your email address
  • street address
  • student ID number
  • your major(s).

The committee reserves the right to split the prize in the case of multiple awards.

Please contact Student Affairs Administrator Sarah Tuohey (stuohey@uchicago.edu; 773-702-2365) with any questions.