Update: The Symposium Submission Deadline has been extended to Sunday, January 21, at 11:59 PM

In Spring 2024, the Undergraduate Writing Symposium (UWS) will once again feature the exceptional work of first-year authors as well as the research writing of more advanced undergraduate authors.

All current first-year undergraduate students are welcome to submit academic essays written in the Fall 2023 semester to be considered for inclusion as a presenter in this year’s Undergraduate Writing Symposium.

Those whose submissions are selected through our blind review process will be invited to present on their project as part of a panel during the symposium event on the afternoon of Friday, April 5.

• EXTENDED Deadline for UWS First-Year Essay Submissions: Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 11:59 PM
• To self-nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please fill out the 2024 UWS: First-Year Essays Submission Form [form closed following the extended deadline].

Before completing the submission form, please familiarize yourself with the information below on Eligibility, First-Year Submission Guidelines and Requirements, as well as an overview of the Submission Form’s Required Written Components.

For first-year submissions, all authors invited to the symposium will also be given the chance to prepare their piece for digital publication in this year’s volume of Scaffold: A Showcase of Vanderbilt First-Year Writing. That process involves working with the Writing Studio on polishing one’s manuscript and submitting a short video or audio reflection on the writing of the piece and what they learned. (Guidelines will be provided to finalists.)

First-Year Essay Eligibility

• Academic essays written by current first-year undergraduate students
• Must have been composed during the Fall 2023 semester
• Two entries per student maximum
• Must be available to present during this year’s symposium event
  • Please put the event date on your calendar now and be prepared to attend if selected!

First-Year Essay Submission Guidelines and Requirements

• Word Limit: First-year essay submissions are limited to 3,500 words (excluding footnotes, endnotes, and references). Longer submissions will not be considered and should be cut down to within the word limit prior to entry.
• Submission Files must be Anonymized and Free of Editing Mark-Up: For the purpose of our blind review, authors must remove all identifying information in the submission file they upload.
  • Please remove your name and other identifying information from the first page of the document, the document header, and anywhere else it may appear within the file.
  • Please ensure the file name for your submission does not include your name.
  • Please remove any editing mark-up and inserted review comments (which often include identifiers).
• File Format: Submissions must be uploaded as Microsoft Word Documents (.docx preferred).
• Maximum two entries per student across both the Undergraduate Writing Symposium and Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium.

Looking to submit creative writing? Please a consider submitting your piece to the Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium, to be held on Wednesday, April 10.

REQUIRED WRITTEN COMPONENTS

Completing the submission form will involve answering a number of questions about your submission and yourself as well as several short pieces of writing as detailed below.

1. Anonymized submission file submitted as a Microsoft Word Document (DOCX preferred).
2. A brief, 2-3 sentence description of the writing project (to be used in the online symposium program)
3. A set of 1-3 keywords describing your project’s subject or genre
4. A short reflection on this year’s symposium theme (1-2 paragraphs, see reflection prompt below).

REFLECTION PROMPT ON THIS YEAR’S SYMPOSIUM THEME

The 2023-2024 symposium theme is “Finding Our Voices, Entering into Dialogue.”

• In terms of finding your voice, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece help you build new confidence in your voice as a writer or develop your sense that you have something meaningful to say?
  • How did you use your writing to explore new ideas, new ways of thinking, or new ways of expressing yourself?
• In terms of dialogue, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece put you in conversation with others past and present as well as on and off the page?
  • Did you do so literally by engaging their words or views, by contributing to an ongoing scholarly discussion or wider debate?
  • Or perhaps figuratively in terms of writing in response to what or how another author wrote?
  • How did doing so push you to learn and grow?

Update: The Symposium Submission Deadline has been extended to Sunday, January 21, at 11:59 PM

In Spring 2024, the Undergraduate Writing Symposium (UWS) will once again feature the exceptional work of first-year authors as well as the research writing of more advanced undergraduate authors.

All upper-division undergraduates (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) working on advanced research projects are welcome to submit a project abstract and a related reflection to be considered for inclusion as a presenter in this year’s Undergraduate Writing Symposium.

• EXTENDED Deadline for UWS Advanced Research Writing Submissions: Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 11:59 PM
• To self-nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please fill out the 2024 UWS: Advanced Research Writing Submission Form [form closed following the extended deadline].

Before completing the submission form, please familiarize yourself with the information below on Eligibility, Advanced Research Writing Submission Guidelines and Requirements, as well as an overview of the Submission Form’s Required Written Components.

Those selected through our blind review process will be invited to present on their project as part of a panel during the symposium event on the afternoon of Friday, April 5.

Eligibility

• Advanced research writing from current upper-division undergraduate students: sophomores, juniors, and seniors
• Honors theses, independent research projects, and other advanced work including Immersion projects and pieces submitted or being prepared for publication will all be considered.
• Submissions may either be in-progress projects during Spring 2024 or have been completed during the 2023 calendar year (spring, summer, fall).
• Two entries per student maximum
• Must be available to present during this year’s symposium event
  • Please put the event date on your calendar now and be prepared to attend if selected!

Submission Guidelines and Requirements

• Word Limit: The word limit for the required project abstract is 250 words.
• Submission Files must be Anonymized and Free of Editing Mark-Up: For the purpose of our blind review, authors must remove all identifying information in the submission file they upload.
  • Please remove your name and other identifying information from the first page of the document, the document header, and anywhere else it may appear within the file.
  • Please ensure the file name for your submission does not include your name.
  • Please remove any editing mark-up and inserted review comments (which often include identifiers).
• File Format: Submissions must be uploaded as Microsoft Word Documents (.docx preferred).
• Maximum two entries per student

Required Written Components

Completing the submission form will involve answering a number of questions about your submission and yourself as well as several short pieces of writing as detailed below.

1. A 250-word abstract of the advanced project (uploaded within a DOCX or DOC file).
2. A 2-3 sentence description of the writing project (to be used in the online symposium program)
3. A set of 1-3 keywords describing your project’s subject or genre
4. A short reflection on this year’s symposium theme (1-2 paragraphs, see reflection prompt below).

Reflection Prompt on this year’s symposium theme of “Finding Our Voices, Entering into Dialogue”

The 2023-2024 symposium theme is “Finding Our Voices, Entering into Dialogue.”

• In terms of finding your voice, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece help you build new confidence in your voice as a writer or develop your sense that you have something meaningful to say?
  • How did you use your writing to explore new ideas, new ways of thinking, or new ways of expressing yourself?
• In terms of dialogue, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece put you in conversation with others past and present as well as on and off the page?
  • Did you do so literally by engaging their words or views, by contributing to an ongoing scholarly discussion or wider debate?
  • Or perhaps figuratively in terms of writing in response to what or how another author wrote?
  • How did doing so push you to learn and grow?

Update: The Symposium Submission Deadline has been extended to Sunday, January 21, at 11:59 PM

The 2024 Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium will celebrate the creative works of undergraduate students. It will do so as one half of the 3rd annual joint Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium and Arts Showcase.

The Writing Studio is calling for undergraduates of all years–first-years through seniors–to submit pieces of creative writing completed during the 2023 calendar year (spring, summer, and fall). Also welcome are in-progress advanced projects, for instance honors or Immersion projects.

• EXTENDED Deadline for UCWS Submissions: Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 11:59 PM
• To nominate your writing or to submit a piece nominated by an instructor, please fill out the 2024 Creative Writing Submission Form [form closed following the extended deadline].

The authors of the submissions selected through our blind review process will be invited to share and reflect on their piece as part of a panel during the Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 10.

Eligibility

• Creative writing of any genre from students of all years: first-years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
• Must have been composed during the 2023 calendar year (spring, summer, fall) with the exception of in-progress advanced projects (honors, Immersion, etc.)
• Available to present during this year’s Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium
  • Please put the event date on your calendar now and be prepared to attend if selected!

Submission Guidelines and Requirements

• Word Limit: Creative writing submissions are limited to 3,500 words. Longer submissions will not be considered and should be cut down to an excerpt within the word limit.
• Submission Files must be Anonymized and Free of Editing Mark-Up: For the purpose of our blind review, authors must remove all identifying information in the submission file they upload.
  • Please remove your name and other identifying information from the first page of the document, the document header, and anywhere else it may appear within the file.
  • Please ensure the file name for your submission does not include your name.
  • Please remove any editing mark-up and inserted review comments (which often include identifiers).
• File Format: Submissions must be uploaded as Microsoft Word Documents (.docx preferred).
• Maximum two entries per student across both the Undergraduate Writing Symposium and Undergraduate Creative Writing Symposium.

Elements of the Submission / Self-Nomination Process

We welcome submissions self-nominated by the author or nominated by a faculty member.

Completing the submission form will involve several short pieces of writing in addition to a number of questions about your submission and yourself.

REQUIRED WRITTEN COMPONENTS

1. Anonymized submission file submitted as a Microsoft Word Document (DOCX preferred).
2. A 2-3 sentence description of the writing project (to be used in the online symposium program)
3. A set of 1-3 keywords describing your projects subject or genre
4. A short reflection on this year’s symposium theme (1-2 paragraphs, see reflection prompt below).

REFLECTION PROMPT ON THIS YEAR’S SYMPOSIUM THEME

The 2023-2024 symposium theme is “Finding Our Voices, Entering into Dialogue.”

• In terms of finding your voice, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece help you build new confidence in your voice as a writer or develop your sense that you have something meaningful to say?
  • How did you use your writing to explore new ideas, new ways of thinking, or new ways of expressing yourself?
• In terms of dialogue, we invite you to reflect on the following:
  • In what ways did composing this piece put you in conversation with others past and present as well as on and off the page?
  • Did you do so literally by engaging their words or views, by contributing to an ongoing scholarly discussion or wider debate?
  • Or perhaps figuratively in terms of writing in response to what or how another author wrote?
  • How did doing so push you to learn and grow?

Participation in the Creative Writing Symposium

• Authors whose submissions are selected through our blind review process will be invited to share and reflect on their submissions as part of an author panel during the event.
  • Each member of an author panel will have a short time to read from their submission (all or an excerpt depending on length) and then reflect on the piece for the audience.
  • Presentations are followed by a Question and Answer period with the audience.
• Accepted works will also be presented in an online gallery available for a short space of time before and after the event.