Honors College Book Award
The Honors College at George Mason University advances excellence by creating an inclusive and equitable space in which students with different perspectives can interact, learn from each other, and collaborate. George Mason’s Honors College reflects the diversity of the George Mason community and provides transformational opportunities to George Mason's most motivated and curious students of all backgrounds and areas of interest.
In recognition of outstanding high school students who embody George Mason’s vision of inclusive excellence in their schools and communities, the Honors College offers an annual Book Award
In anticipation that awardees will go on to make impactful contributions on their college campuses, recipients are invited to visit campus to learn more about the opportunities available to them at George Mason as an Honors College student.
Recipients of the Honors College Book Award
Each year, participating high schools select one student as the recipient of the Book Award. The honoree will receive a book selected to represent the people, ethos, and mission of George Mason University. Recipients will also receive an application fee waiver in their senior year.
Awardees have made significant contributions to their communities and classrooms in a manner reflective of George Mason’s Honors College students. George Mason University Honors College Book Award recipients demonstrate:
- Curiosity, a desire for intellectual growth, and generosity with their knowledge;
- An ability to solve problems and overcome challenges;
- Civic engagement, and a sense of responsibility to others;
- A commitment to inclusion and diversity.
This year's book
The awardee receives a copy of Loot by Tania James. James is an associate professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing program at George Mason University. She has received fellowships from the Macdowell Colony, Ragdale, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and the Fulbright Program.
Loot: A novel, Tania James
A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century: a hero’s quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and fifty years.
“Tania James' latest novel, Loot, gives us a spirited imagining of this tiger's origins and how the British besieged and looted Tipu's capital. With carefully engineered plotlines and epigrammatic flourishes, James molds the tiger's fascinating, fictional journey from India to London's Victoria & Albert Museum — and the singular lives of those who were connected with it.”- NPR.ORG