Prizes in Medieval Studies

The Committee on Medieval Studies welcomes submissions from Harvard College students for its 2024 essay and thesis prizes. Thesis prize materials are due on Friday, 5 April; essay prize materials are due on Friday, 3 May. For more information, please click on the links below. 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 2024 for December 2023 graduates).

The Committee on Medieval Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize (PDF)

The Class of 1955/Robert T. Coolidge Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Medieval Studies (PDF)

Prize Applicant Information Form (writable PDF format)

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 and 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 and 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 and 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."