Annual Caffery Competition: Call for Student Research Projects

Requirements

In order to be eligible for this award, applicants must be enrolled or have completed the submitted project during the previous two academic semesters at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as an undergraduate or graduate in any field of study. Faculty and staff are not eligible to submit applications, nor can they act as co-authors on the project. All projects must be in English and may be completed by groups of five or fewer.

Research of winning students will be preserved and made accessible in the University Archives. Applicants agree to have their projects included in the UL Lafayette Institutional Repository. The Library Committee will not accept projects that have been published or submitted for publishing. Projects must also not be already available on an open-access platform.

Topic

There are no restrictions placed on topics or subject matter; however, all projects must cite or directly investigate primary source materials held in the Special Collections areas of Dupré Library:

• University Archives and Acadiana Manuscripts Collection
• Louisiana Collection
• Rare Books Collection
• Cajun and Creole Music Collection
• U.S. Government Information

Format

Projects can be submitted in all formats, including but not limited to:

• Research papers (should be around 15 to 25 double-spaced pages)
• Digital research projects
• Documentary Film

Students must make sure they have obtained all copyright permissions for use in their projects.

Submissions

The call for 2026 Student Research Projects and the deadline date will be announced in October 2025.

Projects are to be submitted electronically with all contact information, including ULID, to librarydeanoffice@louisiana.edu. If the project cannot be submitted electronically, contact the Library Dean’s Office at librarydeanoffice@louisiana.edu for further instruction.

Research Papers

For acceptance, submit the following items:

• Cover sheet
• A 250-word abstract discussing the main idea of the paper, sources used from Special Collections, and the citation style used
  • In addition to the abstract, for group papers, each member must submit individual statements of no more than 250 words describing their roles in the project
• The research paper
• Bibliography with proper and consistent citations

Research Projects

For acceptance, submit the following items:

• Cover sheet
• 500-750 word research statement describing research strategies and the use of Special Collections resources
  • In addition to the research statement, for group projects, each member must submit individual statements of no more than 250 words describing their roles in the project
• Bibliography with proper and consistent citations
• The project itself (web-based projects must include a link to the project)

Judging

A panel consisting of the University Library Committee, Head of Special Collections, and referees designated by the committee will judge submissions. The panel will evaluate all award submissions using the Caffery Award Rubrics.

Special Collections contains materials of relevance and scholarly interest to students from all academic departments of the University. Students interested in submitting a project to the Competition should visit the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room on the 3rd floor to review the catalog of library holdings in these areas. The staff in Special Collections are available for consultation. Interested students may call (337) 482-6031.