Grants & Awards

A limited number of grants of up to $500 are available to Honors students each semester. Selection is based on academic merit, quality of supporting materials and financial need. Grant money is used to support the research efforts of students and can be used for expenses such as travel to conferences or equipment unique to the student’s project.

To qualify, students must be admitted to a college or departmental Honors program. They must be actively engaged in a research project that leads to an individual Honors thesis.

Students who are awarded the Honors research grant agree to submit a final copy of their thesis to the Honors College, and to have their name, thesis title and abstract posted on the Honors website. A student may receive the award once.

Application Deadlines:
October 1 (Fall)
February 26 (Spring)

Apply for an Honors research grant

The Portz Outstanding Honors Student award was established in 1978 in honor of the first director of the General Honors program, Professor John Portz. The award consists of a certificate and a prize of $150. It is awarded annually to students who combine exceptional academic achievement with outstanding service or accomplishments outside the classroom. The award is presented at the fall Honors College Citation Ceremony to one student in each of the Honors College living-learning programs.

Established by Roger (’76, ’79) and Karen Winston (’75), the annual Winston Honors Writing Awards recognize the best essays, research papers and theses written by honors students.

The Best Student Paper Awards were established in honor of Professor John Portz, the founding director of the General Honors program at UMD. In 2013, Roger, Karen and Emily Winston generously donated funds to support and expand the scope of this award for honors students. There are now three principal categories for these awards: (1) Best Short Essay, (2) Best Research Paper and (3) Best Departmental Honors Thesis. These prestigious awards are coordinated by the faculty and staff of the Honors College.

The annual Winston Family Honors Writing Awards were established to recognize the writing of Honors students and to acknowledge the central role that faculty members play in mentoring Honors College students. We are grateful to Roger Winston (’76), Karen Winston (’75) and their daughter Emily Winston (’06), whose generous gift provides these merit awards. We deeply appreciate the Winston family’s investment in academic excellence and their commitment to the Honors College and the University of Maryland.

Award Application

The student awards applications open on Monday, November 3, 2025. Submissions, including faculty statements, are due Friday, March 27, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

Short Essay: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 1,250 to 2,500 words

Research Paper: Written for an Honors course (H-version, H-Option, or LLP-based course) 2,500 to 7,500 words

Honors Thesis: Culminating research project undertaken in a departmental honors program

Links

• Student Application Form
• Faculty Mentor Form

Eligibility:

• Students must be in the Honors College or enrolled and progressing in a Departmental/College Honors program.
• Submissions for the Short Essay and Research Paper Awards must have been submitted for course credit during one of the following terms: Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026, and Spring 2026. This category is for short literary composition papers on a particular theme or topic. This category is not for research papers.
• Eligibility for papers written in H-option courses requires successful completion of the course with Honors credit (papers in the current Spring 2026 semester are not eligible).
• Submissions for Thesis Awards must represent work from the culminating research requirement in the Departmental Honors program during Spring 2026.
• Students must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at the time of submission to be eligible for these awards.
• Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to be eligible for these awards.
• Submissions must be in an academic writing format.
• One submission per student.
• Single-author papers.

Faculty Mentors

Faculty mentors are those persons who either taught the course for which a student’s essay or research paper was written (in the case of both the Short Essay and Research Paper Awards), or who are the thesis advisor for the student (in the case of the Honors Thesis Award).

Submissions

Submissions will be accepted through Friday, March 27, 2026 as follows:

• For all submissions: Students must contact their faculty mentors to request a statement of support. Faculty mentors must complete a Faculty Statement Form by Friday, March 27, 2026.
• Thesis Award submissions: Complete the Student Application Form and attach in one file a 1-2-page thesis abstract and your completed thesis (or as advanced a draft as you have) by Friday, March 27, 2026.
• All submissions should be revised, polished, and suitable for consideration by an awards committee comprised of readers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.
• Co-authored and/or group papers are not accepted.

Awards Celebration

Winston Award awardees will receive a monetary prize and a certificate. Awardees and mentors will also be celebrated on the Honors College website and social media accounts.

Winston Family Honors Faculty Award

This award recognizes outstanding faculty advising, mentorship and supervision of University of Maryland Honors students. Nominees must be tenure-track or professional-track faculty members who serve, or have served as Departmental Honors directors and/or undergraduate thesis advisors. The recipient will receive a monetary award and a plaque. Department chairs or their designees should submit letters of nomination to WinstonAwards@umd.edu. The deadline is Monday, March 9, 2026. Questions? Please email Traci Dula at tdula@umd.edu.

2026 Recipients

Short Essay

• Kiana Eshaghi ’29 (University Honors), “How ‘Ethical’ Coffee Sustains Racialized Capitalism in the Americas”
• Sulayman Khan ’27 (University Honors), “Freedom & Surveillance: When a Government Loses Its Moral Legitimacy”

Research Paper

• Avani Ambardekar ’27 (University Honors), “’Sacred Unproductivity’: How Indigenous Reverence for Animal Dignity Cultivates Climate Resilience”
• Maja Durkovic ’27 (Honors Humanities), “Split Decisions: Supreme Court Divisiveness and the Shaping of Public Confidence”
• Anne MacLellan ’26 (Public Health Practice Honors), “Exploring Gender Differences in Tuberculosis Concealment and Stigma Across 5 Sub-Saharan African Countries (Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia) Over Time”

Thesis

• João Eduardo Camargo de Miranda ’26 (Government & Politics Honors), “China’s Role in Latin America: Economic Partner or Political Actor?”
• Robert (Chase) Latyak ’26 (University Honors; Aerospace Engineering Honors), “Free-Flight Aerodynamics of Ellipsoidal Clusters in Hypersonic Flow”
• Margaret Kato ’26 (Gemstone; Entomology Honors), “Generation of Species Sensitivity Distribution Models for Estimation of Toxicity and Risk for Non-Target and Listed Coleopteran Species”
• Xiang Luo ’26 (Neuroscience Honors), “Mitochondrial Morphology in Orbitofrontal Cortical Neurons during Incubation of Oxycodone Craving”
• Cadence Michels ’26 (Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics Honors), “Selective Cleavage and Measurement of Mucin with Designed Proteases: a New Diagnostic Tool”
• Katelyn Weslowski ’26 (History Honors), “‘Where the Waters Blend:’ Indigenous-English Relations in Seventeenth-Century Maryland”

Faculty Award

• Melanie Killen, College of Education

See the full Winston Awards history

The David Goff Scholarship is awarded to an Honors College student participating in the Integrated Life Sciences (ILS) program who has demonstrated a commitment to pursuing a career in medicine. This scholarship is made possible by the generous donation of Michael and Ellen Glazer in the memory of their dear friend, Dr. David Goff. This scholarship for $1,000 is non-renewable.

The 2025-26 application is available here and is due December 1, 2025. The recommendation form can be found here.

Eligibility:

Applicants must:

• Be making good progress toward completing the ILS citation
• Have completed a minimum of 30, but no more than 60, UMD credits, excluding AP/IB credits
• Have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.75
• Be strongly committed to pursuing a career in medicine
  (e.g., clinical medicine, medical research, public health, or another allied health field)

Application:

Applicants must submit:

• A curriculum vitae/resume
• A reflective essay (300-500 words) describing your motivations, current experiences, and future plans for pursuing a career in medicine
• A letter of recommendation from a UMD faculty member or other mentor who is not officially associated with the ILS program or the Honors College. Recommendations should address the applicant’s academic accomplishments and co-curricular experiences, with special attention paid to those activities that are preparing the applicant for a medical career. Recommendations are due by Monday, December 1, 2025 and can be submitted by filling out this form.

For any questions, please contact Dr. Najib El-Sayed, director of the ILS Program in the Honors College.