Prizes

For Graduate Students

Information about all GSAS prizes may be found on the website of the Prize Office (from which most of the information below is taken). This page highlights those of particular interest to students of the Classics.

Prizes awarded by annual competition

Bowdoin Prizes for Graduate Students

The following information applies to both prizes: 

  • The essay may be on any subject chosen by the competitor and must contain at least 1,000 words.
  • Dissertations offered for the degree of Ph.D. in Harvard University are admissible. If a thesis chapter is submitted, it must be modified so that it stands alone as a complete essay.
  • Essays already submitted for prizes outside of Harvard University are not admissible. Essays that are already published are not admissible. Essays submitted for publication (but not yet published) are acceptable.
  • Each manuscript must be submitted to the Department of the Classics by Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 5 p.m., via this online submission form. All submissions must be made under a pseudonym and must conform to the directions on the submission website. Only the pseudonym should appear on the translation, and the submitter’s real name should not. See submission form for details.
  • A student who is to receive his or her degree at midyear must submit his or her manuscript on or before the day following the first day of the fall term reading period.
  • Contestants for the Bowdoin Prizes in Greek and Latin are expressly forbidden from using Chat GPT, generative AI, or machine translation tools at any stage in the planning or writing of their submissions. Prizes will be judged by members of the faculty in the Department of the Classics. A finalist for each prize will be selected from the pseudonymous submissions. The finalist will be invited for an in-person discussion of their submission before the prize is awarded. This discussion is intended only to ensure that the submission is the author’s own work, and that the author has not relied on AI or other machine learning tools. It is not intended as an examination or an additional evaluation of the submission.
  • The Bowdoin Prize may not be awarded if no submission is judged to be prizeworthy.

All inquiries about the Bowdoin Prize for Graduate Composition in Greek or Latin should be addressed to the Department of the Classics.

Complete information on the 2026 Bowdoin Prize is available on this flyer. Any questions should be sent to classics@fas.harvard.edu.