College Student Essay Contest

Purpose

The purpose of the contest is to provide the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate music students to write and disseminate scholarly articles on topics relevant to the music education profession.

Rationale

1. Written communication is a critical dimension of higher education that needs encouragement and support. It is a critical skill for all educators and essential for informed arts advocacy.
2. Increased familiarity with the scholarly writing process will help music educators access and incorporate current research into their teaching and assessment practices.
3. Many collegiate music education professors assign students to write midterm and/or final papers in their classes. These papers are often substantial and pertinent to our field, so they should be made available to a broader readership.

Award

1. One undergraduate essay and one graduate essay may be selected as the award recipients.
2. A $2,000.00 prize will be awarded for each winning essay.
3. The winning essays may be published on the TMEA website under the College Division at the discretion of the Article Review Committee.
4. The winning essays may be published in the Southwestern Musician at the discretion of the Southwestern Musician editor.

Submission Guidelines

1. Authors entering the Student Essay Contest must be students currently enrolled in a college/university and must be members of TMEA.
2. Submissions will include name, college/university, degree being sought, and expected graduation date.
3. Essay topics should be an aspect of music education that is of interest to a wide range of TMEA members—general membership, band, choir, orchestra, elementary general music, secondary general music, or research.
4. Essays may be inspirational, pedagogical, philosophical, historical, or descriptive in nature.
5. Essays will be a maximum of 1,800 words and should be submitted in MS Word format.
6. Article Review Committee members will serve as the selection committee for the contest.
7. Each essay will be assessed using the rubric.

Rubric

Scoring Rubric Criteria

Adjudication Criteria

1. Judges: Article Review Committee members will serve as the selection committee for the contest.
2. Blind Review: Identifying information (name, college/university) of the essay authors, including information in the body of the essay, will be withheld from the judges during the evaluation/selection phase.
3. Judges will recuse themselves from evaluating essay submissions from their own universities.
4. Assessment: The rubric will be used to evaluate each entry.

Timeline

• Online submission: September 1–December 15
• Winners are notified in early February. They will be announced at the College Division business meeting at the convention and in the April issue of Southwestern Musician.

If you have questions, contact the Article Review Committee:
Julie Scott, PhD, TMEA Article Review Committee Chair
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
scottj@smu.edu

Committee Members: Crystal Gerrard-Ramirez, Jessica Hajek, Jacqueline Henninger, Michele Henry, Lynnette Vincent

The call for essays has passed. Please check back next year.

2024 Essay Contest Winners