Announcing the 2024 Louchheim School Annual Essay/Project Contest in Jewish Studies
Purpose: To encourage undergraduate research in the field of Jewish Studies through academic engagement and clear and thoughtful scholarship.
Eligibility: Applicants must be currently enrolled University of Southern California undergraduate students.
Theme: Submissions must engage with one of the following topics:
• Representations of Jews, Judaism and/or Jewish culture in popular culture (historical or contemporary)
• Jewish languages and literatures
• Judaism and/or religious practice and experience
• The Hebrew Bible and/or the Archaeology of Israel and its neighbors
• Antisemitism and/or Intersections of Antisemitism, Racism and Islamophobia
• Intergroup Connections and/or Disconnections (Interfaith, Intolerance, Interethnic)
• Rabbinic Judaism, law and/or halakha
Format: We are offering two categories this year:
(a) Research Papers/Essays (minimum 2 pages in length) and
(b) Creative Academic Projects.
Students may submit work submitted for USC courses and, in the case of research papers, write a new essay. All submissions must be entirely original and unpublished.
Submission: Submissions must be uploaded electronically by clicking this link or scanning the QR below. 
The subject line should include “Louchheim School Essay Competition.” Entries should be formatted double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman with 1” margins. Please be sure to include a cover page with your full name, essay title, email address, telephone number, and current mailing address. Please do not include your name in the file name or beyond the title page. Essay submissions must be upload as a MS Word document (not PDF or Google Doc). Creative submissions must include a brief description and a link to a file saved on USC’s OneDrive.
One entry (either written or creative) per student, please.
Criteria: Essays and creative projects will be evaluated for quality of prose, clarity of purpose, thoughtful integration of evidence, command of language and originality. All entries will be read and evaluated by a committee of Jewish Studies faculty members.
If you have questions, please contact JewishStudies@usc.edu or the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies at 213-765-2113.