The Nnamdi Azikiwe Awards and Criteria
The Nnamdi Azikiwe Awards honor the former Nigerian President who was a scholar and politician. In the late 1950s, Azikiwe, who led Nigeria as its first civilian president, invited MSU faculty to join him and other Nigerians to build a land-grant model university in Eastern Nigeria. In the 1960s, this became the University of Nigeria at Nsukka which has had a distinguished educational history. MSU faculty participating in the project became the roots of the MSU African Studies faculty and programs.
Applicants for the awards in 2009 must:
- submit the paper and forms by 5:00 pm, Friday, February 20,2009.
- be enrolled for a degree at MSU
- have not won the award previously
- submit only one paper per competition
- submit in either the graduate or the undergraduate competition
- have completed the paper in the previous three academic semesters (Spring and Fall semesters 2007-08 or Fall semester 2008)
- not submit book or media reviews
- submit both a typed paper and electronic copy of approximately 20 pages, double-spaced, one-inch margins, numbered plus a title page, free of typing or spelling errors and of any commentary by the professor who graded the original paper (this may mean retyping of paper before submitting to competition).
- include no reference on the paper to the author or class for which it was written
- complete a separate cover sheet (available at www.africa.msu.edu/AzikiweApplForm containing the names of the student and of the professor and class for which the paper was written (You are encouraged to make revisions based on comments received on the paper from faculty or others.)
Criteria for judging the papers for the Award
- Clear statement of purpose of the paper
- Significance of contribution to the literature
- Originality of thought
- Clarity of thought and quality of writing
- Quality of coverage of the topic and of analysis
- Adequacy of the bibliography and/or endnotes or footnotes
- The committee reserves the right not to make awards
The award program is administered by the African Studies Center. Selection of winners is determined by an African Studies Award Selection Committee with members appointed by the Center Director. Awards of $200 will be made for the winning papers. No awards will be made if the committee believes there are no submissions to merit an award. See the Application Form
