This past month has been a whirlwind of awards and scholarships for George Mason students. We are excited to announce the winners and congratulate the Folklore Program’s students who have received these honors.
First, we would like to spotlight Emma Bussard who won the Robert Karlson Award for Outstanding Graduate Students as well the English Department Outstanding Graduate Student Award for Folklore. Emma Bussard is an MA student here in the Master’s Program. She is currently in her last semester in the program finishing up her thesis on tourism and material culture in Malawi.
Next, we are proud to announce our Yocom Prize winners. The award is named after Margaret R. Yocom, Associate Professor Emerita and founder of Mason’s Folklore Program. The prize is meant to highlight papers and projects about folklore by a George Mason University student during the previous calendar year. We appreciate Professor Yocom for her continued support of Mason Folklore.
Amanda Young is a MA student in the History Department and Folklore Program here at Mason, and her paper on historical reenacting “Reembodiment: Reconsidering Reenacting” marked her as the graduate recipient of the Yocom Prize for 2025.
Faith Baylor, who is minoring in Folklore and Mythology, won the undergraduate prize for their paper “Birds in Early Irish Folktales and Mythology.” This semester, Faith was also distinguished as graduating with their English degree with honors
We have received many excellent submissions for the Yocom Prize by both graduate and undergraduate students, and we would be remiss to not spotlight our honorable mentions.
Our undergraduate honorable mention goes to James Moser for his paper “The Festive Formation of the Hawaii Group.”
Our graduate honorable mention for the Yocom Prize is awarded to Evie Miller for their digital storytelling submission “Bardic Magic: Recreating History through Performance.” Evie also won the Lathbury at Random award for 2025.
Finally, we would like to celebrate our most recent alum, Ang DiNardo, for winning the CHSS Outstanding Graduate Student in English Award in Fall 2024.
Congratulations to all students!
May 09, 2025