Middle States AAG encourages all graduate and undergraduate students to submit and present research papers to the Student Paper Competition of the MSAAG annual conference. The graduate and undergraduate paper competitions have a first prize of $1000, provided by AAG to fund the awardee’s registration and travel costs to the AAG Annual Meeting). The graduate paper second prize is $300 and the third prize $150. The undergraduate paper competition has a second prize of $200 and a third prize of $100.
There is also a Student Poster Competition with both graduate and undergraduate divisions and first prizes of $200, second prizes of $100 and third prizes of $50. There is a Rob Mason Poster award of $50 for High School students entering the Poster competition. This award is named after our past Regional Councilor Dr. Robert Mason from Temple University who passed away in 2017. He also served as President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of the Division.
Submission Guidelines Student status is as of May 1, 2025. Please note your status (Graduate/Undergraduate) on your abstract and paper submission. Registration fees are refunded after the conference for students both submitting the completed paper by the deadline AND presenting the paper at the conference. Completed papers must follow the Middle States Geographer guidelines and can be no longer than 10 pages, single spaced, 10 point Times Roman font, including all figures, tables, endnotes, and references. Further details on the guidelines are specified under the Student Competitions and Middle States Geographer tab. Students must have a faculty advisor recommend their entry using the format specified and use the guidelines and rubrics for judging on the website under the tab Student Competitions in preparing their entries.
Students should register and submit abstracts through the AAG portal once it is announced on the MSAAG website in fall 2025. Students entering the Student Competition should send electronic copies of completed papers or pdfs of completed posters to Kwame Adovor Tsikudo MSAAG Student Competition Chair at msaag.secretary@gmail.com by November 1.