Student Awards

The School of Economics is proud of the achievements of our students. There are many opportunities for students to be awarded for their excellence. 

2025-2026 Award Winners

The Department of Economics would like to congratulate our 2026 graduating class award winners for their hard work and excellence!

Alumni Gold Medal Recipient:

Mike FrapportiHonours Economics 

Department Award Recipient

Naomi EllisHonours Economics, History Minor

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Nour ElkhawassHonours Economics Co-op, Honours Arts & Business for her paper "AI Diffusion and Productivity Divergence in Developing Economies"

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Euan Lawrence, Honours Economics Co-op, Finance Specialization, Management Studies Minor 

Rachel Finamore, Honours Economics


University and Faculty Excellence Awards

Graduating Honours and Term Distinction

Term Distinction officially recognizes students who have attained a high degree of academic excellence.

To be awarded Term Distinction, students must:

  • Have at least one alpha/numeric grade in the average.
  • Have a minimum term overall average of 80% or higher.
  • Have an academic standing for the term of Satisfactory, Good, or Excellent.
  • Have no marks of incomplete course work (INC), course in progress (IP), under review (UR), or failing grades in the term under consideration for the term Distinction List. When INC or IP grades are resolved, the term’s average will be reviewed for eligibility.

To graduate with Distinction, students must graduate with a cumulative overall average of 80% or higher. To graduate with Dean's Honours, students must graduate with a cumulative overall average of 85% or higher. Students who qualify for both distinctions will graduate with Dean's Honours.

Alumni Gold Medal

An Alumni Gold Medal is presented annually at the spring convocation in recognition of academic excellence of the top graduate from the Faculty of Arts. The award recipient is chosen by the Faculty of Arts dean and associate dean of undergraduate studies based on scholastic achievement.

Departmental awards for Distinguished Academic Achievement

Awards for Distinguished Academic Achievement are presented annually at spring convocation in recognition of academic excellence of the top graduating student from the School of Economics. The award recipient is chosen based on a predetermined set of criteria, including scholastic achievement. Normally, these students are considered for, of which one is selected, as the recipient of the Alumni Gold Medal.


School of Economics Awards

 Every June, the School of Economics chooses to honour the achievements of our graduating students. Students are considered for the following awards:

Senior Honours Essay Award

Awarded to a student in an Honours Economics program who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement in the senior honours essay (ECON 472). Students are nominated by their faculty supervisor and chosen by a committee of Economics faculty members.

Honours Economics Award

Awarded to graduating students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement in the Honours Economics major.

Mathematical Economics Award

Awarded to graduating students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement in the Honours Mathematical Economics major.


Previous Award Winners

2024-2025 Award Winners

Department Award Recipient

Lingyu Li, Mathematical Economics

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Isaac Brown, Honours Economics Co-op, Political Science Minor

Meizi Zhuge, Honours Economics

Honours Mathematical Economics Award Recipients

Shang Gao, Mathematical Economics, Experiential Education Certificate

Emily Grace Pimenta, Mathematical Economics Co-op, Management Studies Minor

2023-2024 Award Winners

Department Award Recipient

Mya Cousineau, Honours Economics Co-op

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Jackson Woloschuk, Mathematical Economics for the paper “Using Game Theory to Optimize Pitch and Swing Decisions”

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Sophie Chu Sung, Honours Economics Co-op

Roa’a Hamed, Honours Economics

2022-2023 Award Winners

Department Award Recipient

Nick Xie, Mathematical Economics

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Geetika Luchun, Mathematical Economics for the paper Forecasting US Inflation Using an Explainable Machine Learning Model

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Judy Lee, Honours Economics Co-op, Finance Specialization, Honours Arts & Business

Terry Wang, Honours, Economics, Finance Specialization, Management Studies Minor

Honours Mathematical Economics Award Recipients

Xinyi Wang, Mathematical Economics

Gavin Fu, Mathematical Economics

2021-2022 Award Winners

Department Award Recipient

Amit Shteyer, Honours Economics Co-op, Finance Specialization

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Matthew Azevedo, Honours Economics, Joint Honours Physics and Astronomy: “Investigating the Impacts of Ontario’s Renewable Expansion on Electricity Wholesale Prices”

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Hameedat Busari, Honours Economics Co-op, Finance Specialization

Kevin David Gylys, Honours Economics Co-op, Public Policy Specialization

Honours Mathematical Economics Award Recipients

Chloe Xu, Mathematical Economics

Gioia Ann Myers, Mathematical Economics

2020-2021 Award Winners

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Abhinav Dholepat, Honours Economics, Intensive Specialization, for the paper “Does spending increase the odds of being elected? An analysis of Canadian general elections from 2004 to 2015”

2+2 Achievement Award Recipient:

Awarded to the top graduating students from the Economics 2+2 program

Chuhui Ruan, Honours Economics, Intensive Specialization

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Jonathan Shantz, Honours Economics Co-op

Honours Mathematical Economics Award Recipients

Yinuo Zhao, Mathematical Economics

2019-2020 Award Winners

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Daneal OHabib, Honours Economics, for the paper “Female Scientist & Biomedicine”

2+2 Achievement Award Recipient:

Awarded to the top graduating students from the Economics 2+2 program

Ruoqing Han, Mathematical Economics

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Rui Min Zeng, Honours Economics, Joint Mathematics

Honours Mathematical Economics Award Recipients

Haoyi Lu, Mathematical Economics

2018-2019 Award Winners

Department Award Recipient

Stella Mueller​, Honours Arts and Business, Joint Honours Economics and Psychology, Co-operative program

Senior Honours Essay Award Recipient

Chris Earle, Honours Economics, Public Policy Specialization

2+2 Achievement Award Recipient

Awarded to the top graduating students from the Economics 2+2 program.

Qidi Hu, Honours Economics; Mathematics Minor

Honours Economics Award Recipients

Nicholas Chambers, Honours Economics

Jennifer Forde-Watling, Honours Economics - Intensive Specialization; Econometrics Specialization

Bingfan Liu, Joint Honours Economics and Mathematics; Econometrics Specialization

Chen Liu, Honours Economics

Xiaodi Liu, Honours Economics

Stella Mueller, Honours Arts and Business, Joint Honours Economics and Psychology; co-op program

Kexuan Qu, Honours Economics

Amrit Sandhu, Honours Arts and Business, Honours Economics; Public Policy Specialization
 

Mathematical Economics Awards Recipients

Shuyu Chen, Honours Mathematical Economics

Menglin Shao, Honours Mathematical Economics

Jiaxiang Wang, Honours Mathematical Economics

Xiaohui Wu, Honours Mathematical Economics

Zetian Zhang, Honours Mathematical Economics