The John Tracy Ellis
Dissertation Award

Ellis Dissertation Award Submissions

The Ellis Prize is awarded to a doctoral student in the field of Catholic Studies with a promising, but not-yet-completed dissertation. There are many materials required to apply for this award. 

The online submission form is at the bottom of this page. Please read all instructions carefully and understand all of the materials you need to submit before completing the online form. Some materials will need to be submitted in hard copy.

Submission deadline: May 1, 2023

Chair

Mary Dunn
Saint Louis University

[email protected]

Judge

Jennifer Scheper Hughes
University of California, Riverside

[email protected]

Judge

Ralph Keen
University of Illinois Chicago

[email protected]

Required Materials

The online form with your information

A statement from the chairman (or director of graduate studies) of the applicant’s department certifying that he or she has completed all the degree requirements for the doctorate except for the dissertation, and has received departmental approval to undertake work on a dissertation topic dealing with some aspect of the history of the Catholic Church.

This statement should be sent to the prize committee chair. (Contact information is in the “Prize Committee” section below.)

A statement written by the applicant, not exceeding 1,000 words in length, describing the dissertation project and the way in which the award would be used to further its completion.

Please submit this via the online form as a Word or PDF attachment.

Two sealed letters of recommendation from scholars familiar with the applicant’s work, one of whom must be his or her dissertation director. 

Please address hard copies of these letters to the prize committee chair.

A sample chapter of the dissertation, or a segment thereof, not exceeding 25 pages. Please submit this via the online form as a PDF attachment.

Submission Form

Submission deadline: May 1, 2023

  • Please check each box to acknowledge that you will have these materials submitted on your behalf. Full instructions are listed in the "Required Materials" section of this page.
  • Please do not exceed 1,000 words
    Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx.
  • Not to exceed 25 pages. A segment of a chapter is also acceptable.
    Accepted file types: pdf.
  • If you have any notes, comments, or messages, please include them here.