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Giving to the Library & Student Scholarships: Library Research Prize - More Info

Dean's Leadership Council Library Research Prize

Purpose

The Dean’s Leadership Council Library Research Prize recognizes exemplary scholarship through effective research strategies and demonstrated use of the library’s resources, services, and staff. There are two $1,000 prizes, one for undergraduate students and one for graduate students. They are awarded annually at the conclusion of the Spring semester.

Questions

For questions regarding applying for this prize, please contact Beryl White-Bing. 

Application Period

The application period for the Dean's Leadership Council Library Research Prize takes place annually in the spring semester.  Applications will be accepted starting in January 6, 2025 with a student application deadline of March 10, 2025.  Letters of faculty support should be emailed to lib-prize@unf.edu and are due March 17, 2025.

Eligibility

Individual or Team Applicants must:

  • Be University of North Florida (UNF) undergraduate or graduate students.
  • Complete a research project or creative work for a credit course at UNF during the previous 12 months.* A draft version of the project is acceptable if final version is not completed by application deadline.
  • For team projects, all members must contribute towards the project.  If a team project wins, award will be split equally among members.
  • Agree to contribute research projects/ creative works and application essay to a display about their research mounted by library staff for public exhibition (in library and online).
  • Winners will be contacted for permission to add their submission to UNF Digital Commons.
    *Cannot be work done as a formal collaboration (i.e. not a published paper or conference proposal) with a faculty member or other non-student researcher, or be research commissioned by an organization or business.  

 

Criteria

Research projects should demonstrate:

  • High level use of library collections, materials/resources (in any format), and staff.
  • Exceptional ability to locate, select, evaluate, and effectively use library resources in the creation of a project in any format.
  • Evidence of significant personal understanding of the information gathering process that shows the likelihood of persisting in the future.

 

Applications Procedure

Application must include the following:

  • Completed online application.(Application will be active January 6, 2025)
  • A 500 word essay describing your use of the library resources, services, and/or staff in completion of your project/creative work.*
  • A draft or final version of the research project or creative work, submitted electronically.*
  • A statement of faculty support from the instructor of the class for whom the work was prepared, emailed to lib-prize@unf.edu. 

*The essay is the most important piece of your submission. The selection committee is interested in the investigative journey you undertook to create that project and how your research skills and understanding/use of library services, resources, collections, and staff improved your project.
*For media and creative projects: submit a printout of the first "page" of the project or a thumbnail of the image and any other necessary documentation, along with the project in its media format, or the URL of the web project.

 

Judging

Submissions will be judged based on how well they meet the selection criteria as listed above. A panel composed of UNF librarians will judge entries on the evidence of the applicant's research strategy, process, and personal learning, which will be summarized in the 500 word essay.

 

This award will be reported to the IRS as income to the winning student(s) and could affect subsequent Financial Aid eligibility.