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FOURTH ANNUAL RACE PAPER CONTEST
Black-White Institutional Racism:
Implications for Graduate Education and Mental Health Training

CALL FOR PAPERS & PAPER GUIDELINES
Papers must be submitted to [email protected] by July 31, 2020.

The Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia invites area graduate students and recent graduates in the fields of Social Work, Psychology, Psychiatric Residency Programs, Humanities, Ministries, Journalism, and Public Health to submit original papers which address institutional racism and barriers to inclusion of racial and ethnic minority students. This can include unacknowledged racial biases that impact graduate and/or mental health education. Papers should be no longer than 15 pages and should not have been previously published or accepted for publication by a national magazine or journal.

You are not expected to have any special knowledge about the practice of psychoanalysis. Papers could describe a broad sweep of history or a narrow focus of time. Your own definitions and experiences of institutional racism and unconscious or implicit bias are welcome. You may describe incidents, events, or trends involving faculty, administration, students, family, national educational or accrediting agencies, or other groups of interest. Possible topics to consider include:

  • Are there differences between stated/written policies or attitudes and your actual experience, and if so, what are they?
  • Do incidents occur in a limited context or across settings?
  • In your experience, what might have been done differently?

The author of the winning paper will be awarded $600 and a one-year, honorary membership at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He or she will present the winning paper at a PCOP seminar in the fall of 2020.

Your paper will be read by three PCOP judges who have an interest in this area. Criteria for the award will include:
  • Originality of observations, ideas, hypotheses, speculations, conclusions.
  • How well you describe the context you are writing about.
  • Thoughtfulness and sensitivity about the topic.
  • Ability to take different perspectives on the issue.
  • Use of personal experience (thoughts, feelings, behavior).
  • How well your paper teaches the reader something new. 

Please submit your paper and this application form to [email protected] by July 31, 2020.