While the literature on mentoring in academe is vast, mentees' accounts of effective mentorship are relatively rare. The purpose of this essay is to add a close-up analysis of what matters to mentees in academic mentoring relationships. This essay presents our analyses of 62 letters describing the first author's mentorship, as well as both authors' mentorship experiences, to highlight forms of support mentees value. The letters, nominations of the first author for four mentoring awards, represent the views of a diverse group of graduate student and faculty mentees as well as faculty colleagues. Drawing on document analysis methods, this essay identifies aspects of mentorship pertaining to: (1) advancing scholarship, (2) navigating institutional contexts, and (3) humanizing mentoring relationships. These themes corroborate prior research on salient dimensions of mentorship and highlight the importance of centering mentees' perspectives, particularly as academic institutions and related professional organizations develop novel mentoring programs and structures.