BEST STUDENT PAPER PRIZE
In Middle East and Islamic Studies

Deadline of submission: April 30th, 2021.

Undergraduate students
Graduate students

The first and second best undergraduate prizes will be awarded to papers (minimum 6 pages in length) written by UCR undergraduates with a MAJOR or MINOR in Middle East and Islamic Studies (MEIS) OR NON MAJORS taking courses taught by MEIS faculty member.

The first and second-best graduate paper prizes will be awarded to papers (minimum 8 pages in length) written by UCR graduate students of any discipline working with MEIS faculty members. The papers demonstrate a critical analysis of the Middle East and the Islamic world across disciplines and time periods.

The MEIS faculty members are to nominate their students for the competition or students may submit their papers to the director of MEIS, Prof. Muhamad Ali at his email muhamad.ali@ucr.edu by April 30th, 2021. The paper may be written in Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, and Winter 2021. The evaluating committee will make a decision by the end of May.

The prizes for undergraduates and graduate students will be a cash award and a letter of recognition by the director of MEIS. The names, pictures and the titles of the papers of the winners will be posted on the MEIS website.

For more information please visit our website www.meis.ucr.edu and/or contact MEIS director, Professor Muhamad Ali, muhamad.ali@ucr.edu.

• First Prize of the Best Undergraduate Paper Award: Brianna Alonzo; Paper title “The Tudeh Party and Its Impact”
• Second Prize of the Best Undergraduate Paper Award: Jacquelin Diaz; Paper title “Iran and the United States: A Relationship Forged in Oil, Fire, and Blood”
• First Prize of the Best Graduate Paper Award: John Haberstroh; Paper title “The Circle of Justice and Gardens in the Achaemenid and Ottoman Empires” 
• Second Prize of the Best Graduate Paper Award: Tyler Shattuck; Paper title “Successions of Greatness and Retrogrades of Declination: Foreign Travelogues in Safavid Persia”
• MEIS also is pleased that Maryam Baig, a MEIS major, received Academic Excellence for CHASS.