2023 Graduate Religious Studies Award – Khushi Choudhary. Khushi will be pursuing an MTS at Harvard Divinity School.
This award is given in recognition of seniors or recent alums who have been accepted to a graduate program in Religious Studies or in a closely allied field with the aim of continuing studies begun in Religious Studies at Bates.

2023 Outstanding Religious Studies Thesis Award — Jack Cantor: Of Pawos and Bodhisattvas: The Poltico-Religious Language of Tibetan Self-Immolation and Frances White: Women with Chutzpah: Comedy as a Subversive Tool of Jewish Female Comedians: An Analysis of the Humor of Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields, Gilda Radner, Ilana Glazer and Tiffany Haddish
This award is given in recognition of an outstanding Bates thesis completed in Religious Studies. Nominations are made by Religious Studies faculty on the basis of quality of research, technical and analytical excellence, and original contribution to the field of Religious Studies. Names and thesis titles of recipients of this award will appear on the Awards page of the Religious Studies website and on a dedicated plaque hung in the Religious Studies lounge or thesis room.

2023 Rev. West Gould Willis Award – Alice Cockerham and Khushi Choudhary
This endowed award, administered annually by Bates College with a small cash prize, is given, by stipulation of the prize endowment, to one or more students for “reading of the Bible with Expression.” The Willis Award “for excellence in reading from the Bible was established by Dr. Ellen A. Williamson of Los Angeles, California, in memory of her father, the Reverend West Gould Willis, Cobb Divinity School, 1871.” It is currently awarded in recognition of excellent work in biblical studies.