2025 Call For Submissions
Note: A single-page, printable PDF of this information is available.
Introduction
Bergen Community College is proud to host Beacon 2025 on Friday, June 6th 2025 at its Main Campus in Paramus, NJ. Beacon celebrates academic achievements of outstanding students in a wide range of disciplines at community colleges in the mid-Atlantic region. With guidance from faculty mentors, students at member colleges revise their own researched, analytical papers and submit them.
Submitted papers are grouped by category, methodology, or theme, and papers in each group are ranked by scholars. Writers of the three highest-ranked papers per group are invited to present their papers in competitive panels at the conference. (Additional papers are selected for an afternoon poster session.)
Panels afford each presenter 20 minutes to present their paper, and each panel concludes with 30 minutes for questions from the Panel Judge and, in many cases, members of the audience. Each panel’s judge selects one winning paper.
Submission Guidelines
Categories of Papers
The conference welcomes papers on various topics and in various disciplines. The categories listed below are offered as a guide. Accepted papers will be grouped into competitive panels based at least partly on categories identified by students at time of submission. The conference co-directors and their team will form panels they think appropriate. Formation of competitive panels depends on interest indicated by quantities of submissions. If too few papers are submitted for a particular category, for example, then a competitive panel for that category will not be formed. Co-directors are keeping open the possibility of forming interdisciplinary panels.
All students are strongly encouraged to discuss category choices with their Faculty Mentors. Students will choose one to three categories most closely related to the methodology used in the paper.
- Allied Health and Nursing
- Anthropology
- Arts
- Biology
- Business and Economics
- Chemistry and Physical Sciences
- Communications and Media Studies
- Computer Science/Engineering
- Education
- Empirical and Field Research
- Environmental Sciences
- History
- Interdisciplinary Studies/International Studies
- Literature Studies
- Mathematics
- Multicultural Studies
- Philosophy and Religion
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Social Justice
- Sociology
- Women’s / Gender / LGBTQ Studies
Selection Process
A panel of three scholars will select three papers from each category to be presented at the conferencce. Additional papers will be selected for a poster presentation.
Eligibility
All Papers
- Papers written Fall 2024 through Spring 2025 are eligible, but papers must be submitted in their final form by March 1, 2025.
- The maximum paper length is 5,000 words, excluding the bibliography.
- Papers authored by individual students. All papers submitted will be considered for competitive panels, depending on interest indicated by submission quantities.
- Students from non-member colleges who are interested in submitting a paper should contact the co-directors.
Appropriate Approaches
The methods and tools of research and/or analysis should be appropriate to paper’s specific discipline. All submissions must show the results of research, reflection, and an original perspective.
Format
Follow discipline-specific guidelines for documentation and format (APA, MLA, etc.) except when they contradict these requirements:
- Use Arial typeface, size 12, double-spaced, on letter-sized pages with one-inch margins.
- Paginate with Arabic numerals in the upper-right corner.
- Remove all identifying information (your name, your professor’s name, your college’s name, etc.) from your file.
- Include the title of the paper at the top of the first page of the essay text.
- Please Do NOT submit a title page. The title page will be generated separately in the Submissions Portal on the conference website.
- Upload your paper as a Word document (.docx). Students writing papers in TeX or LaTeX may submit their work in Portable Document Format (PDF).
Terms and Conditions
- Confirmations of submissions will be emailed to students, their mentors, and their college’s conference steering team members.
- Students submitting papers agree to have their work’s originality verified by conference organizers via Turnitin or a similar service. Papers identified as plagiarized will be disqualified.
- This page may be revised until January 1, 2025, in response to questions and concerns raised by students interested in participating, Faculty Mentors, and Beacon Conference Steering Committee members. Students and Faculty Mentors are strongly encouraged to review this page before submitting papers. A last date of revision will be posted on this page.
Awards
- All panel and poster session participants receive a Certificate of Participation.
- Panel Award Winnersre ceive $100, and winning papers are published in the conference’s annual Proceedings.
Faculty Mentors of Panel Award Winners receive $50.
How to Submit Your Paper
Students interested in participating in the conference on June 6, 2025, may submit original, eligible papers online at beaconconference.org. Submission forms will become available January 1, 2025, and will remain available through the deadline, March 1, 2025.
Conference Co-Directors
Professor Seamus Gibbons and Dr. Kelly Keane
Conference Website