Convocation Prizes

Awards Overview

McGill University is entitled to two Governor General's Gold Medals each year. One medal is awarded to the most outstanding graduating Master's or Doctoral student in the Natural Sciences, including Biological, Physical or Engineering. The other is awarded to the top graduate in Human Sciences (Social Sciences and Humanities).

Nominations put forward for the Governor General's Gold Medal will also be considered for the McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award (all disciplines), Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize (Biological and Health Sciences), the K.B. Jenckes Prize (Social Sciences and Humanities) and the D.W. Ambridge Prize (Physical Sciences and Engineering).

These awards will be presented at the June convocation.

Value

Convocation Prizes Disciplines Estimated Value
McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award All Disciplines $1,500
Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize Biological and Health Sciences $1,000
K.B. Jenckes Prize Social Sciences and Humanities $1,000
D.W. Ambridge Prize Physical Sciences and Engineering $1,500, with engraved plaque for each recipient 

Deadline

 Deadline to submit nomination to GPS: April 15, 2024

Eligibility

  • Must have received or will be receiving a graduate degree at either the November 2023, February 2024 or June 2024 graduations
  • Master's must be M3 or lower, doctoral must be PhD7 or lower
  • Only applicants with a 1st class academic record will be considered. McGill considers a first-class GPA to be 3.7/4.00 or higher
  • There are no citizenship restrictions

Nomination Instructions

There is no Application Process for students. Students need to be nominated by their Academic Unit. Each Academic Unit may nominate only one student receiving a graduate degree per academic year.

Nomination Procedure for Academic Unit:

  1. Complete the Convocation Prizes Nomination Form.
  2. Scan the Convocation Prizes Nomination Form and save it under the following format:
    Convocation -YEAR-Degree-AcademicUnit-StudentLastName.PDF
  3. Email scanned package to : gradcomp.gps [at] mcgill.cagradcomp.gps [at] mcgill.ca ( )

Evaluation Procedures

  • Applications will be screened and forwarded to a Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Evaluation Committee
  • Eligible nominees will be reviewed and ranked by the Evaluation Committee
Evaluation Criteria Weight (%)
Academic Excellence 50
Quality and Significance of the Research and Thesis 20
Potential for a Research Career 10
Communication, Interpersonal and Leadership Abilities 20

Candidates and Academic Units will be informed of the results of the competition by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in May.

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, McGill University.

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