Travel Awards

The Graduate Student Caucus provides a number of travel awards to graduate students. The awards are open to any graduate student (including international students) who has been accepted to present or chair a session at the Annual Convention.

Evaluation is based on the quality of the student’s abstract, the quality of the accompanying statement, and the relevance of their topic in their respective fields. The argument should be well-articulated and understandable to someone outside the field.

GSC Travel Awardees may only receive one travel award, and may not be the recipient of any other travel award for the same conference.

Applicants must submit, in the body of an email to gsc@nemla.org, the following:

• the accepted abstract and its title (if the accepted abstract is in a non-English language, submit BOTH the original abstract and an English translation)
• a statement of no more than 250 words describing the presentation's relevance, contribution, or intervention to the research field to their field

Applications not following the guidelines will not be considered. Decisions by the Travel Awards Committee are final.

Please send abstracts and statements to gsc@nemla.org between October 31 and November 30. Applicants can expect to hear about the decisions from the GSC Travel Award Committee during the first week of January 2023. Awards range from $110 to $400 depending on the number and strength of applications.

Checks will only be available in paper format and released directly to Travel Awardees at the NeMLA conference. Travel Awardees are responsible for confirming that their bank will accept a paper check from NeMLA (i.e., awards cannot be sent as a wire transfer, bank fees are the responsibility of the award recipient).

Travel Awardees must pick up their award checks at the NeMLA convention for the year they receive it at the GSC Business Meeting (typically held on Thursday evening). If Travel Awardees cannot be in attendance at the Business Meeting, GSC officers will share the window of time when awards may be claimed at the GSC table in the Exhibit Hall during the conference. Please note that the GSC is unable to mail out unclaimed travel awards to their recipients.

CAITY travel awards are open to contingent faculty, adjunct instructors, independent scholars, and two-year college faculty who have been accepted to present a paper as part of a traditional panel or seminar at NeMLA's Annual Convention.

Submission Guidelines:

• This stipend is for people who have had a paper presentation accepted to a panel only. C.A.I.T.Y. travel awards are not meant for panel chairs or for participants of creative sessions or roundtables.
• Applicants must choose to apply for either the C.A.I.T.Y Caucus Travel Award or the Graduate Student Caucus Award.
• The recipients of this stipend are selected on merit.
• All applications must be emailed as attachments (.doc. or .docx files only) to caity_travel@nemla.org.
• This year's application period will close on January 13 and recipients will be notified soon after.

Please include:

• Full Name
• Institutional Affiliation(s)
• Professional Status (mark “X” next to the appropriate category; if you are unsure, please email us at caity@nemla.org)
  • Contingent (Full-time faculty with a contract that may be renewed after a set period of time, such as non-tenure track Lecturers, Visiting Assistant Professors, or Post-Doctoral Fellows)
  • Adjunct (Part-time faculty with a contract that may be renewed)
  • Independent Scholar (Scholar with no current institutional affiliation) 
  • Two-Year Faculty (Part- or Full-Time faculty with or without tenure at a community college
  • Other Equivalent Title: _________________
• Email Address
• Mailing Address
• Estimated Total Cost to Attend Conference
• Estimated Amount of Assistance from Other Sources
• Panel Title
• Abstract Title
• Abstract (300 words maximum)

NeMLA is sponsoring a special graduate student travel award in memory of Antonio Cao, member of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hofstra University, a passionate scholar, and an invaluable and loyal member of NeMLA.

To honor Dr. Cao’s memory and his unwavering support of students, this prize will be awarded to a graduate student who is presenting on any aspect of Spanish culture or literature at our annual convention.

Criteria and Application

Please email applications to cao.travel@nemla.org by January 10.

Applications will be evaluated on the basis of:

• the quality of the student’s abstract
• the relevance of their topic to Spanish studies
• the funds available from the student’s institution
• and the travel distance to the Convention

Please include all such information in the application.