The North American Dostoevsky Society (NADS) invites nominations for our biennial undergraduate and graduate essay competitions. The submission deadline is June 22, 2026; submissions are welcome on a rolling basis. For questions about the undergraduate competition, contact vladimir.ivantsov@oberlin.edu; for questions about the graduate competition, contact fiona.bell@utah.edu. The winner of the contest will receive free membership in NADS for one year and will also be invited to present their paper on the biennial NADS research forum to be held at the end of 2026/beginning of 2027.
The North American Dostoevsky Society invites IDS/NADS members in good standing to nominate outstanding undergraduate and graduate student essays on Dostoevsky-related topics for our biennial competition. (If you are not a member of IDS or NADS, you can join at https://dostoevsky.org/). Students are also welcome to nominate their own work, in which case IDS/NADS membership is not required. The topic is open; however, Dostoevsky and his works should be the main focus of the essay. The essay (in English or Russian) should be written for a course taken in the academic years 2024-25 or 2025-26.
Undergraduate contest
To submit a nomination, please send an email containing the student’s name, email address, institutional affiliation, and the title and level/number of the course for which the essay was written (e.g. BIOL 322 “Dostoevsky and Spiders”) to Vladimir Ivantsov at vladimir.ivantsov@oberlin.edu. Please email your essay as a .pdf file containing no identifying information about the author. The essay should be no more than 4000 words, including footnotes and bibliography; 12 font size, double-spaced; it should consistently follow either MLA or Chicago style and contain full bibliographical information on the used sources, either in the footnotes or as a separate list of references. The deadline to submit an entry is June 22 2026, 11:59 PM EST.
Graduate contest
To submit a nomination, please send an email containing the student’s name, email address, and institutional affiliation to Fiona Bell at fiona.bell@utah.edu. Please email your essay as a .pdf file containing no identifying information about the author. The essay should be no more than 8000 words, including footnotes and bibliography; 12 font size, double-spaced; it should consistently follow either MLA or Chicago style and contain full bibliographical information on the used sources, either in the footnotes or as a separate list of references. The deadline to submit an entry is June 22 2026, 11:59 PM EST.