Current Competitions
In 2024, The Program for Engineering Communication established two new awards to recognize outstanding work by students in InterEGR 397. The Engineering Communication Awards and the Applied Ethics Awards honor undergraduates whose work in InterEGR 397 best represents communicating to a multidisciplinary audience, analyzing a technical problem, and assessing the ethical features of an engineering decision. Each semester sees up to three awards: for solo and team engineering communication and for solo or team ethical analysis.
- A list of winners of the Engineering Communication Awards can be found here.
- A list of winners of the Applied Ethics Awards can be found here.
Discontinued Competitions
For almost three decades, The Program for Engineering Communication administered three writing competitions that rewarded outstanding student composition. Two of the competitions were made possible by the generous donation of William Steuber, who attended the College of Engineering in the 1920s. He served as the Assistant Engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and authored three books, including The Landlooker, which received critical acclaim from The New York Times. All three competitions were recently discontinued.
The Steuber Prize for Excellence in Writing honored undergraduate writers in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1992 to 2020. The contest was open to all kinds of writing: expressive, informative, and persuasive. A list of winners can be found here.
The Steuber Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing ran from 2009 to 2019 and recognized writing by freshmen enrolled in the College of Engineering. It encouraged and rewarded writing in three separate categories: reflective writing, academic writing, and creative writing. A list of winners can be found here.
The Wunsch Materials Handling Prize ran from 1998 to 2020 and rewarded innovative papers by undergraduate or graduate students on the topic of materials handling. Students received recognition for outstanding papers on any topic that related to materials handling, including robotic transport, micro-electronics manufacturing, automated assembly, and manipulation of materials in packaging. A list of winners can be found here.