Eastern students of all ages and majors have the opportunity to win up to $300 for research and creativity through a Booth Library scholarship program.

The Library Advisory Board is sponsoring the third-annual program of Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creativity.

Allen Lanham, the dean of library services at Booth Library, said multiple awards of up to $300 are presented each year through this program.

“(The award) strives to recognize excellence in student work, specifically work that is inspired or enhanced by the use of the resources found at Booth Library or from our website,” Lanham said. “We know that students’ work is really enriched by the use of resources provided at Booth Library and, of course, we like to see those transform into something the student invents that is a product of their research or creative abilities.”

Melissa Council, a communications disorders and sciences graduate student, was one of the 2011 award winners for research titled “The Effectiveness of Bite Charts in Behavioral Feeding Intervention.”

Council said she worked throughout the semester with a partner to research a way to positively encourage and enforce children to eat food they may not like.

“We thought that applying for the award was a great way to get our ideas and research out there, and it really paid off,” Council said.

Both individual and group submissions are accepted, Lanham said.

Applicants are required to describe why the project needed a group effort and explain the involvement of each student in the group.

“The overriding goal of these awards is to chase excellence, which is something that we hope our students aspire to,” Lanham said. “Besides the financial incentive, I think that it is a good line on their resume to win an award on research and it is also public recognition for their dedication for writing, creating or investigating.”

Lanham said there is always a wide variety of what students submit such as research papers, poems, short stories, paintings and photographs.

The Library Advisory Board serves as the jury for the awards, he said.

“The board is comprised of faculty from all colleges, students and some administrators from around campus,” Lanham said. “It is a very diverse group in terms of research interests so not one of us will be experts in all of the fields submitted, and in the group we will discuss each application and come to a decision on its merits.”

The submission deadline for applications is March 19, and entries can be turned in to the Booth Library administration office in Room 4700.

Award recipients will be selected by April 6 and the winners will be announced April 8-14 during National Library Week.

“This is an award that is open to everybody and anybody, and gives students the opportunity to showcase what is important to them,” Council said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].