Undergraduate Student Essay Award

Applications for 2026 are now open through July 15th, 2026. Please fill out our Global Application for Awards. You must be a SAMLA Member.

Each year, SAMLA accepts applications of outstanding undergraduate student presentations given at the previous year’s conference. Essays should be between 8-13 pages, be edited for clarity and readability, and include a Works Cited page.

The winner of the award will receive an honorarium of $125, publication of the winning essay on our SAMLA website, and a biographical profile in our newsletter SAMLA News.

If you are a professor seeking to nominate the work of your student, please inform the student that they must fill out the Awards Application themselves should they be interested. We no longer accept applications submitted on behalf of someone else.

Submitting an application implies attendance at the annual conference, where the winner will be announced at our awards ceremony. Applicants must have been SAMLA members for at least one year prior to application in order to remain eligible for the award.