Awards & Writing Contests

Spring is the time for the Department of Literature’s annual Stewart Prize in Poetry and Milton Saier Award in Fiction writing competitions, open to all UCSD undergraduates.

You may submit up to 5 poems for the Stewart Prize and one piece of fiction (15 pages max) for the Saier Award. More detailed information is included on the entry forms, which are available on the individual award pages below.

Our Literature Department Undergraduate Honors Program awards two writing awards to students in the program each year: the Burckhardt Honors Award in Literary/Cultural Criticism (awarded to the top analytical honors thesis project) and the Sherley Williams Memorial Award in Literary Arts (awarded to the top creative writing honors thesis project).

The winners of all four awards will be announced and presented at the end of Spring Quarter. 

Winners: 2025

Burckhardt Honors Award in Literary/Cultural Criticism
Winner: Lauren Taylor

Dr. Milton H. Saier, Sr. Memorial Award in Fiction
Winner: Zeinab Rakhshandehroo

Stewart Prize in Poetry
Winner: Caprice Marie Leach

Sherley Williams Memorial Award in Literary Arts
Winner: Theo Erickson