Awards
The Higgins Labor Research Center grants a number of awards each year to distinguished graduate and undergraduate students working in the field of labor and workplace studies.
Each academic year HLRC conducts a contest among graduate and undergraduate students for the John Joyce Award. Named after a Notre Dame alumnus and foremost supporter of the Center, the John Joyce Award is given to the students who submit the best paper, poem, artwork, or other intellectual product on the U.S. worker.
The 2006 award winner was graduate student Patrick Tom, currently working on his Masters degree in International Peace Studies, whose paper “Transnational Organizing and the Labor Movement in Zimbabwe” earned a $200 prize.
In the past students have submitted essays on Peter Maurin and Leo XIII's encyclical, Rerum Novarum; a dialogue between St. Thomas Aquinas and John Locke; and a research paper on democracy and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In 2003, the graduate prize was awarded to Lisa Demidovich for "What Kind of Future Are Construction Workers Building for Themselves and Their Community?" and the undergraduate award was given to Maria Coleman for "Economic Effects of Child Labor and Policy Implication." A panel of judges awarded two prizes in 2002. The undergraduate award went to Megan Sheehan and Sharon Watson for "Seeing Beyond the Service: A Glimpse into North Dining Hall" and the graduate award to John Dethloff for his creative writing piece, "Femme Footwear."
George G. Higgins Social Justice Award
HLRC has also established an award for a business, community, political, religious or union leader deemed to have contributed greatly to the cause of workers and social justice. The award does not include any monetary exchange, but consists of a citation beautifully framed within a striking picture of Notre Dame's golden dome.
So far, there have been two recipients - John Joyce of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and Douglas H. Dority of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Both men have been ardent supporters and generous contributors to the Center.