The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal

The purpose of The Mentor's annual Academic Advising Writing Competition is to stimulate discussion about academic advising in higher education. The competition is also designed to promote, recognize, and reward exemplary writing on topics related to advising.

Competition rules and a topic for 2008–2009 will be announced here in early September 2008, with a November 30 deadline for submitting entries. The winning entry will be published in The Mentor in February 2009 and will receive a cash award.

Previous Competition Topics and Entries

2007–2008
- Describe your most memorable advisee and tell what you learned from him/her and how it affected you.
2006–2007
- How do you know that you have made a difference in the education of your advisees? (Winning Entry)
- How do you know that you have made a difference in the education of your advisees? (Honorable Mention)
2005–2006
- Drawing from your formal education, how do you use your discipline(s) not only in your own advising but also in collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines in their work as advisers? (Winning Entry)
- Drawing from your formal education, how do you use your discipline(s) not only in your own advising but also in collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines in their work as advisers? (Honorable Mention)
2004–2005
- Describe your relationship with an advisee that best illustrates your philosophy of advising.
2003–2004
- (Topic 1): Describe a relationship in which you mentored another academic adviser and explain what made the mentoring memorable. (No award given)
- (Topic 2): Describe a relationship in which you were mentored by another academic adviser and explain what made the mentoring memorable.
2002–2003
- What would a unified theory of academic advising require?
2001–2002
- How is academic advising different from teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling?
- Excerpts from the journal's writing competition