DEADLINE: March 19th, 2024

Department of History Benefactor Scholarship:
Scholarship for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors majoring in History who show commitment to the study of History.

Patricia Cress Scholarship:
For a History major who has demonstrated involvement in community service and/or volunteer work.

Chase C. Mooney Award:
For a junior or senior at IUB who has demonstrated outstanding ability, promise, and commitment to a career in secondary-school teaching.

Alan B. Gilman and Phyllis Schrager Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship:
For undergraduate students majoring in History who are participating in an IU-approved, credit-bearing overseas study program as part of an educational experience for a semester, academic year, or summer study. Preference given to students wishing to study in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, or Switzerland.

History Department Study Abroad Scholarships:
For undergraduate students majoring in History who are participating in an IU-approved, credit-bearing overseas study program as part of an educational experience for a semester, academic year, or summer study.

Browder Lewis Summer Internship Prize:
For undergraduate students majoring in History who have been accepted for a volunteer, unpaid summer internship position (minimum six weeks full time, or equivalent - 240 hours). The internship does not have to be history-related but your application needs to reflect on how your history classes have prepared you for this internship and the career path it will open for you.

There are also a number of scholarships that do not require an application. All students majoring in History within the Department of History at the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University qualify for these scholarships. The scholarships are limited to History majors. Recipients are chosen by the scholarship committee based on students’ excellence, commitment, and need. Scholarship recipients will be notified in late March/early April.

T. Edith Drane Scholarship Fund:
For a worthy undergraduate student.

Dan H. Eikenberry Scholarship:
For undergraduate students with ability, character, and financial need.

Elfrieda Lang Award:
For an outstanding History Honors student.

Jacob and Lucy Listenfelt Memorial Scholarship:
For a worthy senior.

Charles Raymond Stoltz Scholarship:
For a worthy senior.

Budd Myers Memorial Scholarship:
For an undergraduate student with a record of academic excellence.

Indiana University has a proud tradition of supporting student success—and scholarships are a huge part of that tradition. For more information about university scholarships, please visit the IU Office of Scholarships.

There are a considerable number of scholarships available from sources outside of IU. Please visit the IU Office of Scholarships for more information.

World History Essay Prize
Any IU undergraduate may submit an essay of any length on any topic in the history of any part of the world except the U.S. and western Europe.

European History Prize
Any IU undergraduate may submit an essay of any length on any topic in European history.

William M. Locke Prize
Any IU undergraduate may submit a paper of any length on a topic related to the American Civil War.

John W. Foster Prize
Any IU undergraduate may submit a paper of any length relating to the political and diplomatic history of the United States.

Jeanne Peterson Prize
Any IU undergraduate may submit an essay of any length on any topic in any geo-temporal period concerning: women's history, gender history, or the history of sexuality.

Rozelle Boyd Prize in the History of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
Any IU undergraduate may submit a paper of any length relating to the history of Black or Indigenous people or people of color.

Deadline: March 2nd, 2024

The exact date will be announced in an email to all History majors and minors. All other students can inquire about the cureent year’s deadline by email: histdus@indiana.edu 

Applicants must be currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at Indiana University Bloomington. Applicants may submit no more than one essay per prize. The same essay can be submitted for only one prize. Essays should be typed in 12-point type, and the text should be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins. Papers can be submitted at any time before the deadline. The papers must be submitted as either Word document or pdf. Submissions should be emailed to histdus@indiana.edu. The body of the email must include the following information:

Student name
Paper title
Title of prize for which essay is being submitted
Course for which the essay was written
Semester in which the essay was written
Was AI used in the writing of this essay? If so, how?
Your academic year or graduation status
Email address 

While you will want to submit an essay or paper you wrote for a class you took, you should keep in mind that even an outstanding piece of work written to satisfy the requirements of a specific assignment may not make a good submission without some revision. In an essay or paper written for a specific assignment, the author can often choose to omit information that someone who has not taken the course will need in order to understand the argument. Keep in mind that the readers for the competition will expect to see a piece of writing that is entirely self-contained; in other words, that contains within it all the information an intelligent reader would need to know to understand the point of the essay or paper. So you may need to revise your work to make it suitable. Bear in mind also that you will be competing against the best of your peers. So make sure that the quality of your own work comes shining through. Ask yourself these questions as you revise:

• Does my essay or paper have a thesis (a position I am arguing for or defending) or is it simply a narrative? A submission that is merely descriptive will probably not be as strong a competitor as one that presents a point of view about the past.
• Is my submission focused? An essay or paper which has a tight focus is likely to be more effective and persuasive than one that meanders.
• Are my sources properly cited? Sometimes in a classroom paper, you are only required to cite works by the author’s last name and page number; for this contest all works need a full and proper citation, whether you choose a footnote/endnote apparatus or parenthetical citation with a “Works Cited” list at the end. For more information about citing sources and the Chicago Manual of Style, visit the Student portal: How to research and write a good history essay.
• Have I corrected all of the grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors in my submission? An essay or paper containing spelling and grammatical errors is simply not impressive; it does not convince the readers that you have any authority and such sloppiness irritates educated readers.