On April 30, the department held its annual awards ceremony to celebrate the members of our 2021 English Honor Society, the winners of our creative writing and essay awards, and the winner of this year's Medallion of Excellence. The event was supposed to be held in the Driscoll Tent, but high winds meant we had to move the event indoors at the last minute to the Driscoll Auditorium!
Congratulations, first of all, to the 2021 English Honor Society (see below, left to right): Amanda Atkinson, Catherine Cook, Joe D'Antonio, Erin Fabian, Julia Mills, Julia Mills, Shavani Patel, Jessie Sardina, Dom Sceski, Julia Valenti, and Jackie Solomon. Also honored, but not pictured: Jamie McClelland and Ashley Park.
The winner of this year's Core English Literature and Writing Seminar Prize, for the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written for a Core Seminar in 2020 was Walter McDonald, for his essay, "Female Independence Challenging Social Norms" in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Walter's essay was written for Dr. Ruth Anolik's Spring 2020 course on "The Cultural Uses of Horror and Terror."
The judges for this award were Dr. Joe Drury and Prof. Robert O'Neil.
There were two winners for this year's Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Award, for the most distinguished scholarly or critical essays written by undergraduate students for an English course in the last year: Julia Valenti and Lily Switka.
Julia's essay, "Austen Adaptations and the 'Accomplished Woman," was written for Dr. Joe Drury's Fall 2020 Senior Seminar on "Jane Austen Then and Now."
Lily's essay, "Unrealistic Expectations: Miltonic Marriage and the Fall," was written for Dr. Lauren Shohet's Fall 2020 course on "Milton."
Ava Lundell also received an honorable mention for her essay, "Intimacy in Lament for Art O'Leary," written for Dr. Joseph Lennon's Fall 2020 course on "Irish Epics, Visions, and Hauntings."
The winner of this year's Margaret Esmonde Powell Memorial Award for the most distinguished essay by a graduate student written for an English course was Anne Jones. Her essay, "The Vexed Position of the Black Secret-Bearer: Concealments and Revelations in Hannah Crafts' The Bondwoman's Narrative," was written for Dr. Travis Foster's Fall 2020 course, "American Fiction Before 1900."
The judges for the Fischer and Esmonde Awards were Dr. Joe Drury, Dr. Lauren Shohet, and Dr. Brooke Hunter.
The winner of this year's George D. Murphy Award in Poetry was Madison Barber (below, second from right).
The winner of the Creative Writing Program's Award in Prose was Ashley Oh for her work, "Letter" (second from left). Pictured with them are Dr. Cathy Staples (left) and Dr. Tsering Wangmo (right).
The judges for the two creative writing awards were Dr. Alan Drew, Dr. Lisa Sewell, Dr. Adrienne Perry, and Dr. Tsering Wangmo. This year's visiting judge was the poet and educator Airea D. Matthews.
Finally, the winner of the 2021 English Medallion of Excellence was Shivani Patel, pictured with English department chair, Dr. Heather Hicks.
Congratulations, everyone!
