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Student awards go to top performers

Each year the Department of Religion at the University of Florida awards the top undergraduate and graduate student performers in Religious Studies.

The 2018 Russell Jaberg Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by a graduating religion major, went to winner Austin Young. The runner-up for the award was Malcolm Devers. Congratulations Austin and Malcolm for your outstanding work!

The 2018 Department of Religion graduate student competition for best scholarly presentation and best scholarly publication was open to papers that have been presented at academic conferences and for papers published in scholarly journals or books this academic year.

Best published paper. Prea Persaud’s article was selected for this year’s award. The title of her article is “From Kala Pani to Gangadhara: Sacred Space and the Trauma of Indentureship in Trinidad,” which will be published in the summer edition of the Nidan journal in July 2018. Congratulations Prea for your outstanding work!

Best conference paper. Priyanka Ramlakhan’s paper was selected for this year’s award. The title of her paper is “Hindu Cremation and the Politics of Resistance in Trinidad,” presented at the conference: CHiTra Mela II–Research and Pedagogy in South Asia and Global Hindu Traditions: A Symposium for Faculty and Graduate Students in Florida, on February 10, 2018. Congratulations Priyanka for your outstanding work!