Wicking and evaporation of volatile liquids in porous, cylindrical wicks is investigated where the goal is to model, using simple analytical expressions, the effects of variation in geometrical parameters of a wick, such as porosity, height and bead-size, on the wicking and evaporation processes, and find optimum design conditions. An analytical sharp-front flow model involving the single-phase Darcy's law is combined with analytical expressions for the capillary suction pressure and wick permeability to yield a novel analytical approach for optimizing wick parameters. First, the optimum bead-radius and porosity maximizing the wicking flow-rate are estimated. Later, after combining the wicking model with evaporation from the wick-top, the allowable ranges of bead-radius, height and porosity for ensuring full saturation of the wick are calculated. The analytical results are demonstrated using some highly volatile alkanes in a polycarbonate sintered wick. (c) 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1930-1940, 2014