2026 Research Prizes

HRI Humanities Research Prizes Announced

Each year, the Humanities Research Institute recognizes excellence in humanities scholarship with its research prizes for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty. We are excited to announce this year's recipients!

You are invited to celebrate with us at the Prize Ceremony and Year-End Reception on Thursday, May 7, 4:00–6:00 p.m. at Levis Faculty Center, Room 422. Prizes will be awarded at 4:15 p.m. and the reception follows.

Faculty Prizes

WINNER

Cristobal Bianchi (Art and Design), “Skywriting as Artificial Wonder,” Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 17.1 (September 2025).

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Rebeccah Oh (English), ““Apocalyptic Realism: Death and Life Amid Nuclear Infrastructures,” Environmental Humanities, 17.3 (November 2025), 546–565.

Kevin Rigby Jr. (African American Studies), “What Does Black Protest Appear To Be?,” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, 14.2 (Fall 2025).

Graduate Prizes

WINNER

Lázaro Garcia Angulo (Spanish and Portuguese), “An Expertly Crafted Plan: Early Twentieth-Century Trans Strategies to Outwit the Spanish Administration,” nominated by Professor Joyce Tolliver and submitted for SPAN 599: Thesis Research, directed by Professor Tolliver.

HONORABLE MENTION

August Hoffman (Anthropology), “Becoming with Wolf/Dogs: Trans-species Solidarity across Senses, Taxa, and Ontologies,” submitted for ANTH 599: Thesis Research, directed by Professor Jane Desmond.

Undergraduate Prizes

WINNER

Sabrina Longo-Selvaggi (Comparative and World Literature), “Dying to Have Children: Breastfeeding and Necropolitics in Fascist Italy,” nominated by Robin Turner and submitted for GWS 250: Gender and Representation, taught by Robin Turner.

HONORABLE MENTION

Emma Sales (English), “The Fraternal Gaze: Kinship as a Site of Eroticized Control in The Duchess of Malfi,” nominated by Professor Andrea Stevens and submitted for ENGL 416: Early Modern Revenge Tragedy, taught by Professor Stevens.