The library awards three annual prizes for outstanding senior essays. Each carries a $500 award and is presented during commencement ceremonies at the recipient’s residential college. Based on quality of submissions, the library may name more than one winner (or alternately, none) for the awards in a given year. Winning essays will be published on Eli Scholar. Senior essays submitted to a Yale academic department at any point during the 2018-19 academic year are eligible for consideration for 2019 prizes. Submissions are open now for all three prizes.
The Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award is for an essay using the library’s collections of government documents and information. In 2018, two Applebaum prizes were awarded, to economics major Santiago Botto Tornielli (Jonathan Edwards College) for “Convergence Towards an Optimal Currency Area in the European Union” and to history major Monica Wang (Trumbull College) for “From Enemy to Family: German War Brides and U.S.-German Rapprochement, 1945-1950.” Submission deadline is Wednesday, April 24. Essays may be submitted by seniors or their faculty advisors. Submission guidelines.
The Manuscripts and Archives Diane Kaplan Memorial Prize is for an essay based substantially on research in any Manuscripts and Archives collection. In 2018, H. William Bernstein (Pierson College) received the Kaplan Prize for “From Paris to New Haven: Maurice Rotival and the Longue Durée of Urban Renewal.” Bernstein’s essay drew on the library’s extensive collection of resources related to the French urban planner Maurice Rotival. Submission deadline is Friday, April 19, at 5 p.m. Faculty and others may encourage submission, but students must submit the essays themselves to be considered for the prize. Submission guidelines.
The Library Map Prize is for the best use of maps in a senior essay or its equivalent. Last year, environmental studies major Madeline Zimmerman (Davenport College) won for “The Changing Fate of Thailand's Elephants, But a Future Worth Fighting For: The Interplay of Culture and Ecology for Conservation” and Liliane Lindsay (Saybrook College) won for "Indonesia’s Burning Issue: Why Deforestation Continues to Decimate the Nation Despite Decades of Environmental Policy." Essays may be submitted by seniors or their faculty advisors by Wednesday, April 24. Submission guidelines.
Image: This circa-1960 sketch of an unrealized planning option for the Wooster Square redevelopment in New Haven was used by H. William Bernstein '18 in his Diane Kaplan Memorial Prize essay. Maurice Emile Henri Rotival papers, 1944-1963 (inclusive). Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University.