The essays in this issue of Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge have received awards in The Kingston-Mann Student Achievement Awards for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship. Written by undergraduate students who address deeply urgent and important issues, each essay possesses a clear, distinctive voice. The authors do not turn away from difficult questions and do not waffle, even when they are dealing with questions and data that are ambiguous or contradictory. Although faculty may be accustomed to academic articles rife with qualifiers, indirect points, jargon, and a limited concern for relevance, the essays included here are the works of engaged researchers. They frequently include a call to action, sometimes persuasive for its subtle, measured tone. In this issue, students invite us to consider some traditional merits of scholarly work that have been lost, such as clear and jargon-free writing. They also point the way to new kinds of merit, such as using previously neglected information sources, paying attention to silenced or marginalized voices and questions, and raising issues of social justice. This introduction has three parts. First, we introduce the process by which we solicited and judged these award winning articles by undergraduate scholars. Second, we provide an overview of the essays’ themes and some of the ‘aha’ moments that occurred when we recognized how much we were learning from the students. Third, we discuss how the students’ research achievements might affect their role as engaged members of academia and the influence they might exert upon a much wider audience in an increasingly diverse civic sphere.