Student Awards and Prizes

The Philosophy Department has four awards:

The Edward Dodd Award

The Edward Dodd Award is awarded to the graduating senior with the best Honors Thesis. The award may be shared.

The Edward Dodd award is given to the graduating senior who, in the study of philosophy, shows most clearly the qualities demonstrated by Edward Allen Dodd Jr., Class of 1967. Among these qualities are academic excellence motivated by concern for ideas for their own sake, vigor in intellectual pursuit and resilience in the face of criticism, goodwill toward others encouraging them to higher achievement, and courage in the face of misfortune. The recipient of the award is announced during the commencement exercises, and the recipient's name is engraved on a memorial plaque in the philosophy seminar room.

Recent awardees:

2023 John Coleman ("J.C.") Ward
2022 Maximilian J. Gebauer
2021 Daniel Wetterhahn
(2020 not awarded this year)
2019 Benjamin J. Fleenor
2018 Kiera S. Judge
2017 Austin W. Piatt
2016 Edward Corcoran and Stephanie Foster
2015 Elizabeth Christian
2014 Zain Raza
2013 Nathaniel Reisinger
2012 Ian Sturdy
2011 Melissa Beth Henzel and Shea Musgrave
2010 Grace McGee
2009 Robin Zheng
2008 Adam Hockensmith and Jessie McCormack
2007 Yujia Song
2006 Derrick Barksdale and Allan Gallis
2005 Kate Houren, Dustin Jacobson, and Susan Somers

The Young Scholarship

The Young Scholarship, previously awarded to the graduating senior with the best Senior Thesis, is awarded to the major or minor with the best paper in an upper-level philosophy course. The scholarship may be shared.

The Young Scholarship, endowed by Henry Young of New York, is conferred upon the student attaining the highest record in a selected course in philosophy.

Recent awardees:

2023 Nafisa Jeb
2022 Tiffani L.Thomason
2021 McKenzie Koch
2020 Maxmilian J. Gebauer
2019 Jake S. Sirota
2018 Seisha P. Carrier
2017 Zachary J. Taylor
2016 Bruce McCuskey
2015 Julia Gaede
2014 Andrew Seredinski
2013 Elizabeth Brassfield
2012 Reilly Kidwell and Taylor Melanson
2011 Abby Urquhart
2010 Stephanie Schaefer
2009 Jasmine Hart
2008 Kathryn Krall
2007 Nick Collins
2006 Lisa Johnson
2005: Carolyn Harrold

The Charles Thomas Boggs Prize in Philosophy

The Charles Thomas Boggs Prize in Philosophy is awarded to the graduating senior with the best thesis or paper on a major figure or subject in philosophy that has been taught by the late Professor Chuck Boggs, Class of 1966 and Professor of Philosophy at Washington and Lee University from 1970 until his retirement in 2007. For more information about Professor Boggs, see here.

Among those majors figures and subjects taught by Professor Boggs were Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, ethics and the environment, the philosophy of nature, and philosophy and literature. The prize is in the form of a book chosen by the Philosophy faculty.

Recent awardees:

2023 Tyler Bernard
2022 Maximilian J. Gebauer
(2021 not awarded this year)
2020 Katherine R. Ingram
2019 Brittany L. Smith
2018 Austin J. Kinne
2017 Julia M. Wilson
2016 Joshua White
2015 Not awarded
2014 Emily Comer
2013 Emily Zankman
2012 Henri Hammond-Paul
2011 Emmy Mathews

The William Wells Chaffin Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate excellence in the annual intercollegiate Ethics Bowl debate competition. The scholarship may be shared.

Endowed in 1970 by friends and a bequest, this scholarship honors a former University professor and debate coach and is intended to assist one or more deserving students who demonstrate excellence, or the potential for excellence, in intercollegiate debate.

Recent awardees:

2023 Windsor Warlick and Carter H. Chandler
2022 Carter H. Chandler and Maximilian J. Gebauer
(2021 not awarded this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic)
2020 Clare N. Perry, Charles G. Thomas, and Catherine E. Spencer
2019 Alex L. Farley and Allison E. Rutledge
2018 No prize awarded
2017 Alex L. Farley
2016 Edward Corcoran
2015 Cynthia Lam and Conner Perkins
2014 Miles Abell and Sarah Hugg
2013 Reilly Kidwell and James Spencer
2012 Matthew Locke and Dessie Otachliska
2011 Shea Musgrave and Dessie Otachliska