Sponsored and administered by the SEDAAG Education Committee:
Guidelines for the Undergraduate Student Honors Poster Submission and Presentation Criteria
All undergraduate posters are eligible for this competition as long as they are single-authored (only one student can present the poster, and it should be the work of that one student, not a group of students) and these directions are followed exactly.
Eligibility
To be eligible to participate in the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition, the undergraduate student must have been enrolled in a geography program and be in residence at the sponsoring department at the time his or her research was conducted. The sponsoring department must be located within the SEDAAG region. Masters-level students who have graduated since completing their research may present their posters at the first SEDAAG meeting following their undergraduate graduation.
Posters should represent original research. Maps, illustrations, and other audiovisual materials should be designed and constructed by the student author. Posters should consist of one undergraduate student along with a supervisor as the author. No other students should be listed as authors. (Other students involved in the research can be mentioned on the poster; however, only one student can author and present each poster).
All topics broadly related to geography may be entered and will be ensured of a critical and impartial evaluation.
Evaluation and Selection Procedures
Each poster submitted to the undergraduate student poster competition will be evaluated by the Education Committee for the quality of original research undertaken by the author and for its oral presentation and defense. Education Committee members will anonymously review and judge the posters during the undergraduate student poster competition.
The posters must be prepared with care and treated as one prepares a manuscript for possible publication. The primary criterion will be background outlining related literature, research objective(s)/question(s), research design/methods, results, conclusions, and bibliography. Failure to provide any of these criteria will result in receiving low marks in the judging competition.
The oral examination will focus on the professional quality of the presentation and the adequacy with which questions are answered. It is important that the oral presentations be lively and well-illustrated. In order to leave time for questions, each oral presentation should aim for a 3–5-minute presentation.
The visual evaluation of the poster will include quality, appropriateness, and visual appeal of maps, figures and illustrations. Materials should be legible from a distance of three feet with text confined to brief statements. All visual aids should be intelligible and have subtitles. Maximum poster dimensions are 36’ by 48″.
The weight for each category is as follows: 30 percent for the written component, 30 percent for the oral presentation and questions, and 40 percent for the visual presentation.
Submission Instructions for Undergraduate Honors’ Poster
Step 1
Join or renew your SEDAAG membership. https://sedaag.org/membership.
Step 2 – due September 13, 2024
Register your poster through the online submission form on the SEDAAG website (https://forms.gle/9SiXCz3Wm6VrWQWdA). Students must register for the Undergraduate Poster Competition by September 13, 2024 but they can submit their final abstracts by October 18, 2024. Fill out all the information required on this form (including poster title) and then, instead of submitting an abstract, you must submit this statement in the abstract section:
“I (your name) understand that I am submitting only partial application materials for the undergraduate poster competition. I understand that I also need to submit my actual abstract to Dr. Jennifer Rahn jlrahn@samford.edu by October 18, 2024 to be officially registered for the undergraduate poster competition.”
Questions about the Undergraduate Poster Competition should be directed to Dr. Jennifer Rahn at jlrahn@samford.edu, be sure to put “SEDAAG 2024 Undergraduate Poster Competition” as the subject of the email.
The following distinguished Geography undergraduate students have been awarded the Best Undergraduate Poster Award since 2010.
| Year | Recipient | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | ||
| 2024 | Ryan Poulsen | University of Richmond |
| 2024 | Shaoting Wen | University of Richmond |
| 2023 | Elisa Luckabaugh | University of Mary Washington |
| A.J. Heichelbech | University of Louisville | |
| Miles Baker | Furman University | |
| Oriana Ballotta | University of Richmond | |
| 2022 | Cooper Corey | Univ. of Alabama |
| Caleb Dale | Samford Univ. | |
| Jack Buehner | Furman Univ. | |
| 2021 | Sanica Manglorkar | Georgia State Univ. |
| Lilian Hutchens | Univ. of South Carolina | |
| 2020 | Sierra Moore | Virginia Tech |
| 2019 | Sarah Grumulaitis | Samford University |
| 2018 | Timothy K. Kinlaw | Appalachian State Univ. |
| Sarah Marie Van Schoick | Santa Fe College & University of Florida | |
| Cody Perkins | Concord University | |
| 2016 | Patrick Thomason | Samford University |
| Katie Testerman | Concord University | |
| 2017 | Linnea Ryan | Armstrong State University |
| Alistair Andrulis | University of Mary Washington | |
| 2015 | Elisa Sperandio | Concord University |
| 2014 | Nate Lawrence | Concord University |
| Ethan Bottone | Univ. of Mary Washington | |
| 2013 | Paul Lemiuex | Univ. of Tennessee |
| 2012 | Taylor D. Holden | Univ. of Richmond |
| Vincent D. Walker | Univ. of South Alabama | |
| 2010 | Zachary Wehrmann | Univ. of Mary Washington |