Applications Open for Second Annual Black Queer Studies Awards

two rows of black queer title covers in rectangular shape with purple banner overlay that includes "Black Queer Studies Collection" in text

The University of Texas Libraries announces the Second Annual Black Queer Studies Collection Student Awards. This annual prize celebrates UT’s Black Queer Studies Collection and recognizes our students’ scholarship and creativity inspired by it. Two student awards are presented each year.

The Monica K. Roberts Award ($1,200, pre-tax) honors graduate student work and is named in honor of the late Monica Katrice Roberts (May 4, 1962 – October 5, 2020). Ms. Roberts was an African-American blogger, journalist, archivist, online talk show host and trans human rights advocate. A native Houstonian, proud Texan and unapologetic Black Trans woman, she founded her blog TransGriot in 2006 to appropriately and respectfully document violence against and accomplishments within transgender communities globally, nationally and locally.

The Hogan/Schell Award honors undergraduate work ($800, pre-tax) is named for former UT librarians K.A. Hogan and Lindsey Schell, who – alongside former UT professor Dr. Matt Richardson – founded the UT Libraries’ groundbreaking Black Queer Studies Collection in 2009. To learn more about the collection’s founding, please see this article by K.A. Hogan in the journal Progressive Librarian. 

The financial award is dispersed through the Libraries, and draws from the Black Queer Studies Collection Endowment, originally funded through a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign in 2021. Additional support for these awards and the Black Queer Studies Collection comes from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the Center for Women's and Gender Studies and the English Department.

Find instructions, eligibility and criteria on the following guide to apply: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/bqsc/awards. Submissions are due Monday, February 5, 2024.

See this library guide to learn more about the Black Queer Studies Collection.