As spring term arrives, please remember to nominate outstanding undergraduate writers for WIC Culture of Writing Awards. Recognizing exceptional student writing communicates to our students and the university that good writing matters in every discipline. To nominate outstanding undergraduate writers, interested units (schools, departments) seek nominations from the faculty and select the best paper from the major. For each writing prize winner, WIC awards $50, matched by $50 from the unit, for a total of $100. What an excellent way to acknowledge the hard work and talent of our undergraduate writers! If a unit nominates a student, that student receives an award. There is no competition between units.

Once your department or unit has chosen a paper to nominate, fill out the nomination formand submit it via email to Mohana Das by 5:00 p.m. PST, June 1, 2018. The complete policy and submission instructions are on the WIC website. Here are a few tips and models for the award nomination process:

• Model 1: the academic unit might use the department or school awards committee, who asks faculty to nominate and submit their best undergraduate paper for the year. The committee chooses the awardee.
• Model 2: the academic unit wants the awardee to be from a WIC course, so one or more WIC instructors select the best paper.
• Model 3: the top academic writing occurs in a capstone course with a team project. The unit selects the team with the best-written capstone project for the award. When the award goes to a team of four, some units divide the $100 award 4 ways, while other units contribute more than $50 so that individuals will receive a more substantial award.

Because the only way a student at OSU can receive a monetary award is through a deposit in the student’s account, the award is typically given to a student who is currently enrolled. If a student winner has graduated prior to June 2018, additional paperwork and processing time will be required. If possible, submit those nominations as early as possible. In addition, if units would like to receive the award certificate in time for an awards event, include that information and the date of the event with the nomination form. Units with special considerations regarding the due date should contact Vicki Tolar Burton, copying Mohana Das (dasmo@oregonstate.edu).

Student awardees are invited to submit their winning paper to the WIC section of the ScholarsArchive@OSU.