2025-2026 College Award Winners

Harper Award for Exceptional Performance in a Course

Recognizing achievement in an undergraduate course beyond general education, departments are invited annually to nominate students for the Harper Award for Course Excellence. The Harper Award is designed to decorate the deeply engaged, stellar student, independent of the grade the student receives in the course, or their grade point average.

LGBTQ+ Community Engagement Award

The LGBTQ+ Community Engagement Award is a student prize sponsored by UChicago Alumni Pride and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. The award is given annually to honor exceptional contributions that advance and support the interests of the LGBTQ+ community and is open to current UChicago undergraduate or graduate students in good academic standing. The awardee receives a prize of $500 and the honor of the opportunity to speak publicly about the significance of their work and introduce the invited distinguished speaker at the coming year’s OUTstanding Speaker Series lecture.

  • Alina Randhawa

Brian J. Baldea MVP Award

Presented to a baseball player who, by vote of his teammates, has made the greatest contribution to the team through leadership, commitment and skill.

  • Erik Rindner

Bridge Builder Award

Recognizes students who have worked to establish or support connections between student groups or individuals. The areas of collaboration can include collaborative events, exploration of diverse cultures, education about issues that have challenged the campus, or other multicultural offerings.

  • Elsa Batalden

Campus Life and Leadership Award

Presented to graduating students who have demonstrated leadership in a single co-curricular endeavor and subsequently improved the quality of life on campus.

  • Hunter Bershtein
  • Gasser Elwasefi
  • Jessica Ledesma
  • Eva Lim
  • Nicole Wong
  • Annie Yang

College Outstanding New Leader Award

Awarded to first- and second- year students for exemplary contributions to student life while showing further promise as student leaders.

  • Alex Jung

David Blair McLaughlin Prize

Presented for essays written by students in the graduating class demonstrating special skill and sense of form in the writing of English prose.

  • Lucy Cygal
  • Anna Riccardi

David W. Grainger Senior Scholarship

Presented to a third year Physics student who shows particular interest and aptitude in the laboratory as well as outstanding proficiency in formal course work.

  • Xiaoyu Chen

Earl R. Franklin Research Fellowship in Psychology

Supports student summer research projects in Psychology.

  • Becky Guo
  • Anthony Procaccio
  • Jun Shin

Edith Ballwebber Prize

Presented to female athletes who have demonstrated outstanding athletic performance, team leadership, initiative, and improvement and who have contributed significantly to the Women's Athletic Association.

  • Alexis Clark
  • Peyton McGuire
  • Alex Milisavljevic
  • Jamie Nguyen

Elsie F. Filippi Memorial Prize in Poetry

Presented to a student in the College who demonstrates distinction in poetic composition or in the study of poetry.

  • Noam Levinsky

Frances E. Knock Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Biological Chemistry

Recognizes outstanding academic achievement in biological chemistry.

  • Prithi Srinivasan

Frances E. Knock Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Chemistry

Recognizes outstanding academic achievement in chemistry.

  • David Wang

Gertrude Dudley Medal

Awarded to a senior female athlete who has contributed significantly in both leadership and performance to the women's athletic program.

  • Mary Stuart Kerrigan

Heart of the Team Award

Presented by the Graduate Athletic Association to a senior who has provided life, spirit, and guidance, and demonstrated enthusiasm, perseverance and a positive attitude throughout her career.

  • Anna Chard

Howell Murray Alumni Association Award

After his death in 1958, a group of friends established the Howell Murray Medal to recognize and award the level of student leadership, dedication and ambition embodied in the spirit of Howell Murray.

  • Zarrin Ali
  • Inioluwa Aloba
  • Orion Douglas
  • Benjamin Fica
  • Elijah Jenkins
  • Timothy Lu
  • Shannon Meng
  • Neha Modak
  • Caitlin Mooney
  • Camden Pao
  • Anna Riccardi
  • Leena Saifeldawlla
  • Sophia Shen
  • Chichi Wang
  • Seri Welsh
  • Emily Xu

Humanitarian Award

Presented to students who have lived a life of honesty, integrity, and responsibility, with a demonstrated commitment to the welfare of the greater community.

  • Ruby Velez
  • Alexander von Kumberg

J. Kyle Anderson Award

Presented to the senior baseball player who best exemplifies character, leadership, integrity, and dedication to the team while distinguishing himself with accomplishments on the field.

  • John Butka

Jane Morton and Henry C. Murphy Award

Presented to those students who have made unique contributions to improving university student life.

  • Michelle Du
  • Kevin Guo

John Haeseler Lewis Prize

Awarded in recognition of the best graduating senior majoring in Physics.

  • Xiaoyu Chen
  • Benjamin Cohen

Justin Palmer Prize

Awarded annually by the Department of Middle Eastern Studies to the undergraduate major who submits the best Senior honors paper.

  • Andrew Edmondson

Leonard Bloomfield Prize in Linguistics

Awarded to the graduating fourth-year linguistics majors with the highest GPA in linguistics courses.

  • Surya Chinnappa
  • Kenneth Cius
  • Sami Feinberg
  • Will Flowers
  • Mushkie Gurevich
  • Aliya Harris
  • Andrew Mark Welch
  • Aria Petrella
  • Sydney Sparr

Les River Fellowship for Young Novelists

Awarded to a writer of fiction to support the development of a novel towards publication.

  • Carrie Midkiff

Louis Sudler Prize in the Performing and Creative Arts

Awarded for academic achievement in performing and creative arts

  • Raquel Dawson
  • Gemma Lippman

Margaret C. Annan Undergraduate Award in Writing

Established in Ms. Annan's memory by her students, for third-year students in the College in recognition of excellent writing and for support of a writing project.

  • Hannah Mayerfield
  • Tyler Sookralli
  • Sophia Zeglis

Margaret McKenzie Prize in Germanic Studies

The McKenzie Prize in Germanic Studies is presented to a College student for outstanding work in Germanic Studies.

  • Aria Petrella

Mary Jean Mulvaney Scholar Athlete Award

Awarded to the male and female senior athletes with the highest junior and senior grade point average.

  • Zach Meyer

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program

Provides a cohort of current second-year students with faculty mentoring and research development during their junior and senior years, preparing them for planned doctoral studies in the humanities and qualitative social sciences.

  • Aaliyyah Garcia
  • Faron Livinus
  • Smyrna Osae
  • Antonio Persi
  • Cayden Sewell

Norman H. Nachtrieb Award

Awarded each year to an outstanding student for excellence in undergraduate chemistry studies.

  • Melody Tang

Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize

Awarded for an original short story or novel extract by students in the graduating class.

  • Tori Harris
  • Daniel Sipes

Richard P. Taub Thesis Prize in Public Policy

Honoring Richard P. Taub, the founder of the undergraduate Public Policy program, the Taub Thesis Prize is awarded each May to three students majoring in PBPL whose BA theses reflect original and extensive research and exceptional writing.

  • Brianna Duty
  • Francisca Giuliani
  • Grace Greeno
  • Georgie Williams

Unsung Hero Award

Recognizes students who have positively influenced a program or organization from behind the scenes with a positive attitude toward goals, a willingness to help in whatever capacity necessary, and a commitment to excellence in the completion of tasks and duties.

  • Lucas Dong
  • Jadyn Lewis-Jenkins
  • Annabel Olivo

Walter and Fay Selove Prize in Physics

Recognizes outstanding undergraduates in physics, astronomy, or astrophysics.

  • Asad Fayiz
  • Emilio Peláez Cisneros
  • Conrad Wichmann