Call for First-Year Essay Submissions

First-year authors’ academic essay submissions written during the Fall 2022 semseter will be considered for the Undergraduate Writing Symposium on Friday, March 31, which will feature the exceptional work of first-year authors as well as the research writing of more advanced undergraduate authors.

To nominate your academic essays or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please first consultant the First-Year Submission Guidelines below and then fill out the First-Year Writing Submission Form.

Looking to submit creative writing? Please a consider submitting your piece to the Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium, to be held on Thursday, April 13.

First-Year Submission Guidelines

Eligibility

First-year writing completed during the Fall 2022 semester is welcome to compete for inclusion in the event.

The Submission / Self-Nomination Process

Please be aware that our submission / self-nomination process will ask for two short pieces of writing to accompany the piece of writing to be considered:

1. A brief description of the writing project to be used in the online symposium program
2. A short reflection on this year’s theme, “Writing as Discovery”. We will invite you to reflect on the ways in which writing this piece led you to unexpected connections and insights, to see yourself, your writing process, or your topic in a new light, and/or otherwise served as an opportunity for intellectual and/or personal discovery.

Simultaneous Consideration for Inclusion in a Digital Collection of First-Year Writing

This year, all first-year submissions being considered for inclusion the symposium event will also once again be competing for inclusion in Scaffold: A Showcase of Vanderbilt First-Year Writing a digital collection begun in Spring 2019 as an extension of the symposium.

Following our review process, the authors of the highest scoring submissions will be invited to prepare their pieces for digital publication and to submit a short video or audio reflection on the writing of the piece and what they learned. (Guidelines will be provided to finalists.) All pieces included in the digital showcase will also be eligible for prizes in several categories, which will be announced during an awards ceremony at the symposium’s conclusion.

Word Limit

Please note that there is a 3,500 word limit for first-year papers submitted for consideration. Pieces longer than 3,500 words will not be considered for inclusion in the Symposium. If selected for presentation, papers will be need to be edited to 7-8 pages of text or 15 minutes of presentation time. (For multimodal works selected, we will work with students to decide the best way to display or share each piece.)

Formatting

Submission files should be Word Documents (.docx preferred). Please include your name in the file name, while removing all identifying marks (name, class, professor, etc) from the document and the header.

Digital Compositions Welcome

The submission form includes instructions for submitting writing project with multimedia components. (If removing identifiers from such projects proves difficult or impossible, we understand and will adapt our review process accordingly.)

Two Entries per Student Maximum

Each student may submit up to two first-year essays, which includes both faculty-nominated and self-nominated pieces. However, students who submit first-year essays are also eligible to submit pieces to the Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium.

To nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please fill out the First-Year Writing Submission Form.

Call for Advanced Research Writing Submissions

All undergraduates working on advanced research projects are welcome to apply for a spot in the Undergraduate Writing Symposium, which will be held on Friday, March 31. Honors theses, independent research projects, and other advanced work including Immersion projects and pieces submitted or being prepared for publication will all be considered and may be completed or still in progress during the 2022-2023 academic year.

To nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please read the submission guidelines below and then fill out the Advanced Research Writing Submission Form.

Advance Project Submission Guidelines

The Submission / Self-Nomination Process

Please be aware that our submission / self-nomination process will ask for three short pieces of writing to accompany the project to be considered for inclusion:

1. A 250-word abstract of the advanced project
2. A brief description of the writing project (to be used in the online symposium program)
3. A short reflection on this year’s theme, “Writing as Discovery”. We will invite you to reflect on the ways in which writing this piece led you to unexpected connections and insights, to see yourself, your writing process, or your topic in a new light, and/or otherwise served as an opportunity for intellectual and/or personal discovery.

Following our review process, select authors will be invited to join our Advanced Research section to discuss their work and writing process alongside other participants.

Advanced writing projects completed or currently in-progress are welcome to compete for inclusion in the event.

Abstract Word Limit

Please note that there is a 250 word limit for advanced research abstracts submitted for consideration.

Formatting

Submission files should be Word Documents (.docx preferred). Please include your name in the file name, while removing all identifying marks (name, class, professor, etc) from the document and the header.

Digital Compositions Welcome

The submission form includes instructions for submitting writing project with multimedia components. (If removing identifiers from such projects proves difficult or impossible, we understand and will adapt our review process accordingly.)

Two Entries per Student Maximum

Each student may submit op to two advanced research writing projects, which includes both faculty-nominated and self-nominated pieces. However, students who submit advanced research writing projects are also eligible to submit pieces to the Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium.

To nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please fill out the Advanced Research Writing Submission Form.