The Maryland Collegiate Honors Council (MCHC) is pleased to sponsor Portz Awards each year for Outstanding Honors Students at Two-Year and Four-Year institutions in Maryland. One award is designated for an honors student at a two-year Maryland college, and the other for an honors student at a four-year college or university in the state. Each award carries a stipend of $500. The three parameters of the award are 1) initiative and leadership in the honors program, the institution, and/or the community; 2) grade point average (overall and in honors courses); and 3) academic excellence as illustrated by a project submitted for honors credit. These categories are mentioned explicitly in the nomination form and should be addressed in the letters of recommendation. Bear in mind that although the NCHC’s Portz Award is given solely based on a student’s project, the two MCHC awards for Outstanding Maryland Honors Students are given to well-rounded honors students, only one component of whose nomination is the project. Nominations of excellent students are plentiful, and this speaks well for higher education in Maryland. What distinguishes excellence from distinctiveness suitable for a nominee for this award? The following attributes will be deemed to strengthen an application:
quality and breadth of engagement beyond the classroom, expressed in a narrative essay written by the nominee (NOT a bulleted list or a CV)
quality and breadth of overall academic achievement
academic work of high quality that indicates the ability to synthesize disparate materials (primary and secondary source materials, for example)
independence and originality in critical and/or creative thinking
Each MCHC-member institution in good standing may nominate one (maximum) candidate each year for the MCHC Portz Award for Outstanding Maryland Honors Student. Institutions with multiple campuses may submit multiple nominees if each campus has paid MCHC dues. The award winners will be announced at the annual MCHC Conference. Consistent with this, each institution’s nominee will be awarded free conference registration.