# Prizes in Medieval Studies ## expand\_more The Committee on Medieval Studies welcomes submissions from Harvard College students for its annual essay and thesis prizes. Out-of-phase seniors are eligible for the annual thesis prize; application materials, however, should be submitted by the deadline for the year *following* their graduation date (e.g. April 2026 for December 2025 graduates). [The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize](https://medieval.fas.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum3586/files/2026-04/EssayPrizeDescription.pdf) (PDF) [The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Medieval Studies](https://medieval.fas.harvard.edu/resource/undergraduate-thesis-prize-2025)[ ](/file_url/545)(PDF) [Prize Applicant Information Form](/file_url/97) (writable PDF format) ### 2026 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: John Weaver ’26 (Departments of the History of Art & Architecture and South Asian Studies), *Worldly Heaven: Elephanta’s Polyvalent Program and Sacred Geography*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Richard Rodgers '28 (Departments of History and History of Art & Architecture), "Remembering Richard: Christian Kingship and English Identity in *Richard Coeur de Lion.*" ### 2025 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Aidan Scully '25 (Department of the Classics and Committee on the Study of Religion), *'The Reign of Caesar and the Birth of Christ': Constructing the Christian Roman Empire in Rufinus and Orosius*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: John Weaver '26 (Departments of the History of Art and Architecture and South Asian Studies), "Lay Salvation: The Iconographic Journey of Achieving Union with Śiva in Elephanta Cave 1." ### 2024 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Sophia Charles '24 (Departments of History and Physics), *Navigating the Natural Record: Climate and Avar Migration in Sixth- to Ninth-Century Central Eurasia*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Aidan Scully '25 (Department of the Classics and Committee on the Study of Religion), "Church and State: Revelation, the *Shepherd of Hermas*, and Constantine’s Anti-Heretical Mission of Canonization." ### 2023 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize (joint winners): Rose Collier '23 (Department of the History of Art & Architecture and Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology), *Prayer in the Perilous Realm: The Impossible Landscape of Hieronymus Bosch's Hermit Saints* and Kevin P. Wang '23 (Department of History), *Freed Slaves, Free Status, and Roman Law in Late Medieval Europe*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Dante Minutillo '24 (Department of the Classics), "Modes of *Metaphrasis*: Narrative and Purpose in the *Lives* of St. Auxentius." ### 2022 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Shoshana Boardman '22 (Committee on Degrees in History and Literature and Department of Mathematics), *Babylonian Incantation Bowl Onomastics*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize (joint winners): Dante Minutillo '24 (Department of the Classics), "οὐδε γάρ εἰμι χείρων: Homer and the Self in Anna Komnene’s *Alexiad*" and Cecilia Zhou '23 (Departments of the History of Art & Architecture and English), "The Birth of the Reader: The Legitimization of Women’s Reading in *Le livre de la Cité des Dames.*" ### 2021 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Diana Myers '21 (Committee on Degrees in History and Literature), *Mater matris domini*: *Holy Motherhood and the Early Cult of St. Anne*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Kevin P. Wang '23 (Department of Government), "Legal Prescriptions and Social Conditions of Slavery in Southern Europe, 1400-1600." ### 2020 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Julia Schroeder '20 (Department of History), *Courting Chancery: The Politics of Petitioning in Fifteenth-Century England.* The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Diana Myers '21 (Committee on Degrees in History and Literature), "Mater Matris: Celebrating St. Anne in the Medieval Chartrain Liturgy." ### 2019 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Madeleine Woods '19 (Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology and Department of English), *The Science of Spells: Plants, Potions, and Seasonal Variation in Anglo-Saxon Leechbooks*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Sarah Lagan '19 (Department of Neurobiology), “Catherine, Christopher, and the Construction of a Cult: The Changing Praxis of Medieval Piety.” ### 2018 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Daniel Hellstrom '18 (Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology): *The Alliterative* Morte Arthure*'s Extended Verses: A Study in Stress Assignment, Scansion and Meter*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Robert Hopkirk '18 (Department of English): “'And yet I stond in desyer': A Hermeneutic of Receptive Desire in Marie de France and Julian of Norwich.” ### 2017 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Sama Mammadova '17 (Departments of History and History of Art & Architecture): *Art for the Soul: Religious Art as Restitution for Usury in Renaissance Italy*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Julie Estrada '18 (Committee on the Study of Religion): "'Exclusive Union': An Analysis of Gendered Language and Chiasmatic Performance in the Corpus of Hadewijch." ### 2016 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Rivka Hyland '16 (Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations), *Direct Speech: In Search of a Common Idiom in Early Abbasid Christian and Islamic Theology*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Faye Zhang '17 (Departments of English and Visual and Environmental Studies), “Mary Magdalene and the Stained Glass Ceiling." ### 2015 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Susannah Maybank '15 (Department of the History of Art & Architecture), *Unless I See: The Personal Metaphysics of Vision and Image in C.G. Jung's* Red Book. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Veronica Wickline '16 (Department of History), “When God Gives Constantine Daughters: Examining the Changing Roles of Imperial Byzantine Brides in 10th-15th Century Interdynastic Marriages." ### 2014 Prize Winners The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Thesis Prize: Valerie Piro '14 (Department of History), *Society and Politics in the English Tournament, 11th – 13th Century*. The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize: Samantha Berstler '14 (Department of English), "Herebeald and the Limits of Odinic Religion in *Beowulf*."