The Burgess Award recognizes exceptional undergraduate research projects by rewarding a student(s) who demonstrates extraordinary skill and creativity in the application of services and collections of IU Libraries. Undergraduate students are nominated by faculty members, or a proxy faculty member such as the Director of the Arts and Humanities Council. Applications and faculty nominations are available on the IU Libraries' website in mid-January and due in mid-March. Watch the Libraries' homepage to know when to apply. The work of previous applicants may be found at ScholarWorks.
Previous Winners:
2026 – Jonathan Ding's essay "Towards Economic Justice: Philosophical Perspectives on Taxation and Global Equity" AND Allie Miller's research portfolio "Acquiring Samoa and Puerto Rico: Identity Preservation and Protection of the Island Territories in the Midst of Conquest"
2025 – Wesley Kopis’s research project “Soul in the Machine: Detroit Techno’s Response to the Urban Crisis” AND Josie Spark’s essay “To Sell a Thing: A Concessionaire Case-Study of Mount Rainier National Park, The National Park Service, Corporate Concessionaires, and the Responsibility of Providing an American Dream”
2024 – Eva Hernandez's essay “Harmony and Discord: The Political Symphony of Venezuela’s Musical Landscape" AND Christina Westbrook's "Beneath the Fabric: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Meanings Behind Bras"
2023 – Lilly Dowty's essay “'To Procure a Miscarriage': Abortion in Southern Indiana, 1960-1973" AND Christina Yang's "The Undesirables: The Causes of Selective Federal and State Surveillance on Asian Women and Their Reproductive Decisions in the 19th and 21st Century"
2022 – Joelle Jackson's essay "Cultural Heritage Management and International Law: Restitution of the Benin Bronzes"
2021 – Sarah Kurpius’ essay “La plaza del diamante y el abuso de relaciones personales y políticas / The Time of the Doves and the Abuse of Personal and Political Relationships” AND McKaylyn Lynch’s essay “The Controversy of Conservative Feminism: How a Conservative Ideology Hinders Republican Women’s Electability and What This Means for Women’s Issues"
2020 – Ben Parnin’s essay “Society through Whist and Gaming In 18th Century Britain”
2019 – Grace Semler’s research project “More than ‘The Roses of No Man’s Land:’ The Personal and Professional Experiences of Canadian and British Nurses in World War I
2018 – Kyra Triebold’s essay “Theroux’s Mothballs: The importance of Translator’s Archives”
2017 – Sophia Muston’s essay “Paths to Empowerment Among Latina Students and Teachers in Lawrence Township”
2016 – Taylor Schumacher’s essay “The (Mis)construction of Youth Homelessness: Historical, Social, and Political Dilemmas.”
2015 – Sophia Huang’s essay “The Paradox of Progress: Cherokee Acculturation and Removal in the 19th Century”
2014 – Brittany Doyle’s essay “Sustainability of Assisted Voluntary Return”
2013 – Thomas Ladendorf’s essay “’Excellent Vertues’ and Virtuosic Speculations: Medical and Historical Knowledge about Coffee in England, 1650-1730”
2011-2012 – Catherine Howland’s essay “Olympe de Gouges: More than a Proto-Feminist”
2010 – Samantha Benson’s essay “Trouser Roles in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito and Le Nozze di Figaro: Implications for Gender Constructions in Eighteenth Century Europe”
2009 – 1st Place: Jessica Reddick’s essay “Sexperts and Sexpertise: The Demands of the Cold War Era Professionals in the Bedroom”
2009 – 2nd Place: Erin Chapman’s essay “The Dreadful Chasm”: American Recognition and Response to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1916 and the Holocaust
2008 – Elana Kelber’s essay “What Sells?: An Examination of Gender in Magazine Print Advertising in the 1950s”
2007 – Emily Bloom-Carlin’s essay “Cultural Production and the Conducător: An Examination of Ceausescu’s Neo-Romanticism” AND Michelle Greco’s essay “Analysis of Holocaust References in Political Rhetoric”
2006 – Jeremy Watt’s essay “The Incongruous Bull: In Supremo Apostolatus”