The 2027 Spring award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, April 14, 2027, at 3:30 p.m. in 233AB HUB. All faculty, students, staff, and friends and families are invited to attend. Please email odb2@psu.edu for more information.
Samuel P. Bayard Award
This prize is awarded to a senior or advanced junior in the Comparative Literature major who has displayed excellence in their coursework and beyond. The awardees are chosen by theundergraduate studies committee. Instructions on the nomination process will be posted in January 2027. Please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies with any questions: cmlit-program@psu.edu.
The award is present in the memory of folklorist and musicologist Samuel Preston Bayard (1908–1997), former professor of English and Comparative Literature at Penn State. After retiring in 1973, he continued teaching and writing articles and, in 1977, was awarded the title of professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature.
Past Award Winners
2026: Elsa Zhu and Naomi Bird
2025: Anshuta Beeram, Sandra Lema, and Marilena Hadjieftychiou
2024: Newlyn Bonidie and Ella Hu
2023: Jordynn Cheatle and Huzaifa Malik
2022: Sydney Burns and Arushi Grover
2021: Emma Cagle and Emily Newton
2020: Ema Chen and Jessica Kim
2019: Samantha Landmesser and Brian Loane
2018: Madeleine Hughes, Siobhan Leonard, and Lauren Schugg
Thomas O. Beebee Award
Inaugurated in 2025, this prize is awarded to a senior or advanced junior in the World Literature minor who has displayed excellence in their coursework and beyond. The awardee is chosen by the undergraduate studies committee. Instructions on the nomination process will be posted in January 2027. Please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies with any questions: cmlit-program@psu.edu.
The award is presented in the name of Thomas O. Beebee, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and German, whose wide-ranging academic specializations and longstanding editorial achievements have made him a major figure in the study of World Literature.
Past Award Winners
2026: Rayann Patterson
2025: Charis Cheuk- Ling Liu