Announcement

The BCPS Conference recognizes the need for graduate students doing postcolonial studies to both distinguish and professionalize themselves. One significant investment we make toward that end is the Nichols Graduate Award, given annually to the best paper delivered by a graduate student at the conference. The 12^th annual Nichols Graduate Award will be presented at the 2027 Conference. Presenters who are enrolled in a graduate program are invited to submit their original conference papers in consideration for the award.

The winner will be acknowledged during the 2027 conference, and will be given special consideration should they submit their work to our conference partner, the peer-reviewed Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies.

The winner will also be invited to propose a panel for the 2028 BCPS conference and, if accepted, will have their 2028 registration fee waived.

Jim Nichols

As a former Marine, then as a faculty member and department chair, Jim Nichol's life was all about service. He served his students, his colleagues, his university, and his country well. While chair of the Department of Literature and Philosophy at Georgia Southern in 1992, he helped found the BCPS Conference, and supported it throughout his working life.

His generosity and service continued even after his retirement, as he created and sustained the Nichols/Hamlet Foreign Travel Endowment, which offers an annual award supporting faculty travel abroad. With the Nichols Graduate Award, Jim ensured that the conference would encourage and promote budding professionals, helping to create the next generation of scholars in postcolonial and transnational studies. Jim died in 2025, but left us a legacy that will continue to serve our students, our conference, and our discipline.