Student Awards and Prizes

Undergraduate and graduate students studying in English & Film Studies are eligible for over 50 awards and prizes worth $110,000 each year, which cover a broad range of courses and areas taught in the department. Many awards are supported by major commemorative endowments from individual and family benefactors. Department Prizes are unendowed and have been sustained by ongoing donations from faculty and friends of the department. (Interested donors can make a gift here.)

The majority of our prizes and awards do not require students to directly apply for them, though to be considered for the largest number of potential scholarships, awards, prizes and medals, undergraduate students should fill out the general application before the deadline each year via the University’s Awards Hub.

We are always delighted to celebrate and reward the outstanding academic achievements of our students! Starting in June 2023, we will be publishing annual lists of our award & prize winners which can be viewed on the linked pages.

Undergraduate Awards and Prizes

List of Centrally Administered Endowed Awards & Prizes

To learn more about the eligibility criteria and details for each award listed below, you can search it by name here. To be considered for these prizes, you’ll need to complete your annual application(s) on Awards Hub to enter the pool of candidates.

Rutherford Memorial Medal in English
Frank Bessai Memorial Prize in Old English
The Bertha E Glass Award in Junior English
Priscilla Hammond Memorial Scholarships in Honors English
Aiken Award in English Language and Literature
Meryle and Alder Clark Scholarship in English
RD Biamonte Award in English Literature of the Romantic Period
DR Godfrey Memorial Prize in Romantic Literature
FM Salter Prize in Shakespeare Studies
Priscilla Hammond Memorial Prize in Junior English
James AG Marino Prize in English Language Studies
Joan Dorothy Whitehead Crowther Prize in Medieval Studies
Helen Jeannette Raver Memorial Scholarship in English
Gwendolen M, Muriel A and Bennett W Clarke Scholarship in English Literature
Catherine & Louise Ford Award
Miss Lesley Heathcote Memorial Librarianship Bursary
Sean Steels Memorial Award
JT Jones Prize in Milton
James Patrick Folinsbee Prize in English
Sheila Watson Prize in Modern British Literature
Alison White Prize in Children's Literature
Christopher Q Drummond Memorial Prize in Early Modern Non-Dramatic Literature
Bruce Stovel Memorial Prize in 18th Century British Literature
Sheree Frappied Memorial Prize in Literary Studies
Ted and Charlotte Davenport Poetry Prize
James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing
Stephen Kapalka Memorial Prize in Creative Writing
Darren Zenko Memorial Prize in Creative Writing
Patricia (Pat) Price Memorial Prize in Writing
S Bychinsky Award for Creative Writing
Miller Screenwriting Award
Edmonton Film Society Scholarship
Vanessa Hughes Memorial Award

List of Instructor-Nominated Department-funded Course and Area Prizes

These prizes are awarded by instructor nomination and funded by faculty and friends of the Department.

200-Level Course Prizes
Literary Forms
Language and History
Literary Methods and Theory
Gender and Sexuality
Class Studies
Race, Empire and Postcolonial Studies

Area Prizes
Indigenous Literature and Culture Prize
PostColonial Literature and Culture Prize
19th-Century British Literature and Culture Prize
Contemporary/21st-Century Literature and Culture Prize
American Literature and Culture Prize
Canadian Studies Prize
Women's and LGBTQ+ Writing
Print Culture and Media Studies
Literary and Critical Theory
Film Studies Prize