Spring 2026 Submission deadline:
by 4:00pm on Monday, April 27, 2026. No extensions allowed.
The Yale University Elizabethan Club awards a prize for the best graduate and undergraduate student term paper and/or senior thesis/project/dissertation excerpt on a subject of interest to the Club:
- Outstanding work on literature, arts, or culture of the Renaissance.
- Outstanding work on interpretations, adaptations, or criticism relating to literature, arts, and culture of the Renaissance.
- Outstanding work based on research done in the Elizabethan Club Collection (used at the Beinecke Library).
Work from any department is eligible and nominations can come from faculty, advisors, or the students themselves. The competition is open to all Yale students, regardless of department. They do not need to be members of the Club.
The winner will receive a monetary prize.
In order to be considered for this prize, the following deadline must be met:
Submit an electronic copy of a completed paper or thesis, double-spaced typed (maximum of 40 pages: not including thesis abstract, images, figures, and bibliography), by sending an email attachment to the registrar for the Program in Early Modern Studies, Julia DiVincenzo (julia.divincenzo@yale.edu).
+ Papers should be anonymized by removing all identifying information. Only English-language submissions will be accepted.
When submitting, please use the relevant subject line, either “Elizabethan Essay Prize, Undergraduate” or “Elizabethan Essay Prize, Graduate”. [Papers received after 4pm that day cannot be considered because of the tight deadlines under which the selection committees operate.]
+ Please contact Cyndi Erickson (eliz.club@yale.edu) with questions, or for additional information regarding the prize.