The Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski Paper Prize in French
This paper prize was established in 2019 to honor Distinguished Professor Blumenfeld-Kosinski, a highly accomplished scholar of French medieval studies and an inspiring teacher at the University of Pittsburgh. The prize recognizes outstanding student scholarship in any area of French and Francophone studies. Submissions must be written in French. The competition is open to all French majors at the University of Pittsburgh whose submission was written for a course in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh. A prize of at least $200 will be awarded for the undergraduate paper written in the past year determined to be the most outstanding by a department committee. An honorable mention may also be named. Limit one submission per student per year.
Entries must have been prepared initially for a course, seminar, independent study, honors thesis, or internship at this university (including courses part of study abroad programs run by Pitt), and must represent the student’s original work. Entries may be revised from their original form with acknowledgement, in the cover sheet, of assistance received from an instructor, Writing Center tutor, native speaker of French, or other person. Creative work may also be submitted, but a critical reflection on the piece must also be included. Digital scholarship is also welcome and the submission should simply offer access to the on-line work for the committee (with any necessary passwords provided). Written submissions must be at least 2,500 words in length, but may well be longer. Students who have graduated may submit provided that they were enrolled students at some point during the past academic year and that they composed the paper during that time. Paper prize winners may not submit again (honorable mentions may).
A cover sheet must be submitted with the paper. Please submit as two separate attachments to frit@pitt.edu with the heading "French Paper Prize Submission" by May 6 each year. The paper must be submitted as a PDF file.
Please know that graduating seniors are still eligible to submit a paper even after graduation.
Undergraduate Paper Prize Cover Sheet Template (PDF)
The Golden Lotus Award for an Outstanding French Major
Established and awarded for the first time in 2020 thanks to an alumna donor, this prize is awarded at the FRIT graduation ceremony each year in late April or early May to honor the most outstanding French major, as selected by the French faculty. The award carries a $200 prize. There is no application process, and all graduating majors are automatically considered.
2020 Awardee: Claire Stacey
2021 Awardee: Dane Hudson
2022 Awardee: Keira Wood
2023 Awardee: Carolyn Tett