Bowdoin prize
Encyclopedia
The Bowdoin Prize is a prestigious award given annually to Harvard University
undergraduate and graduate students. It is considered among the highest academic commendations the University can bestow upon a student. From the income of the bequest of Governor James Bowdoin
, prizes are offered to students at the University in Graduate and Undergraduate categories for Essays in the English Language, Essays in the Natural Sciences, Compositions in Greek, and Compositions in Latin. Each winner of a Bowdoin Prize receives, in addition to a sum of money, a medal, a certificate, and his or her name printed in the Commencement Program.
The award has been given annually since 1790, and its past winners include:
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
undergraduate and graduate students. It is considered among the highest academic commendations the University can bestow upon a student. From the income of the bequest of Governor James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin II was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution. He served in both branches of the Massachusetts General Court in the colonial era and was president of the state's constitutional convention...
, prizes are offered to students at the University in Graduate and Undergraduate categories for Essays in the English Language, Essays in the Natural Sciences, Compositions in Greek, and Compositions in Latin. Each winner of a Bowdoin Prize receives, in addition to a sum of money, a medal, a certificate, and his or her name printed in the Commencement Program.
The award has been given annually since 1790, and its past winners include:
- Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, 1820 and 1821, essayist and poet - Charles SumnerCharles SumnerCharles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction,...
, 1830 and 1832, statesman - Edward Everett HaleEdward Everett HaleEdward Everett Hale was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills and at age thirteen was enrolled at Harvard University where he graduated second in his class...
, 1838 and 1839, writer - Charles L. FlintCharles L. FlintCharles Louis Flint was a lawyer, cofounder and first Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, a lecturer in cattle and dairy farming, the first secretary of the Massachusetts Agricultural College Board of Trustees and the college's fourth president.Flint was born in Middleton,...
, 1848, lawyer, education advocate, first Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture - Horatio Alger, Jr.Horatio Alger, Jr.Horatio Alger, Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty...
, 1851, writer - Henry Adams, 1858, historian
- George Lyman KittredgeGeorge Lyman KittredgeGeorge Lyman Kittredge was a celebrated professor and scholar of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare' as well as his writings and lectures on Shakespeare and other literary figures made him one of the most influential American...
, 1882, scholar and educator - R. Nathaniel Dett, 1921, composer
- Nathan Pusey, 1934, president of Harvard
- Henri Dorra, 1949, art historian
- John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
, 1954, writer - John Glover Roberts, Jr., 1976, Chief Justice of the United States