Opportunities

Awards and Journals

In their courses studying important texts, carefully elaborating arguments on assignments and papers, in discussion with faculty, or, more often, in discussion with their friends, students gain insight that inspires them to share with others. There are a number of opportunities to achieve recognition and readers. The Philosophy Program is most proud of the McClellan Award, our own recognition each year for outstanding undergraduate essays in philosophy. There are also a few undergraduate journals of philosophy seeking submissions. Less frequently, but notable nevertheless, there are conferences for undergraduates to share their work, well as professional philosophical conferences which host special sessions for undergraduate students to present their work. See below for updates on all of these opportunities.

An annual award honoring Dr. James E. McClellan, Jr. conferred on the undergraduate authors of four outstanding essays in philosophy.

The 2020 James McClellan Philosophy Essay Competition

There will be a total of four prizes, two for lower and two for upper division courses. The award for each prize is $100. We invite for submission papers which exhibit clarity of argumentation, rigor and philosophical insight. There are no length requirements, nor is there any restriction to any area of philosophy. For the lower division level, all current students who have written a paper in such a TAMUCC philosophy course are eligible to compete. For the upper division level, the entrants to the competition must be current philosophy majors or minors whose essay was written for a TAMUCC upper level philosophy course. No more than one essay per author will be considered across the two levels. To enter, please submit a copy of your essay along with the assignment prompt to the following email address by February 28^th, 2020:

philwritingcc@gmail.com

Submissions should be prepared for anonymous review (i.e., all references to the author in the body of the paper should be removed, and there should be a cover page including the following information: author name, major and minor, year in school, and title of the paper; the cover page, the essay and the assignment prompt should all be part of one and the same document). Submissions will be reviewed by a panel consisting of philosophy faculty members, who will make final decisions by February, 2020.

Dr. James E. McClellan, Jr.

TEXAS STATE SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 484

In Memory of Dr. James E. McClellan, Jr.

According to the occasional "Calls for Papers" (or CFP's) crossing our desks, a growing number of journals specialize in publishing, once or twice a year, outstanding essays by undergraduate students. Going through the process of carefully polishing an insightful essay, submitting it for review, receiving devastating but valuable criticism, revising it for publication, and eventually, we hope, seeing it in print for all to see is at once arduous and immensely rewarding.

Noting that only one CFP may be answered at a time (it is never done to submit the same paper to multiple journals at once), below is a compilation of recent CFP's to get you started on the road to publication. Review back issues of the journals to get a sense for the range of content and length and style of essays they publish, selecting the one to pursue that seems best suited to your proposed submission. To be sure, your faculty are happy to consult with you and offer support should you choose to pursue publication.

Finally, revisit this page periodically as we update it to reflect new CFP's. If the submission deadline for a given CFP has passed below, feel free to contact the editors to find out when the next deadline/issue will be set.

Undergraduate Journals

Opportunities

Awards and Journals

The McClellan Philosophy Essay Award

Undergraduate Journals

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