Villanova English Department Essay Awards, 2023-24
If you have a piece of work that you're especially proud of, please consider submitting it for consideration for one of these awards.
The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award, which comes with a prize of $250, is given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by a graduate student in a Villanova English course within the last 12 months.
The Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Awards, which come with a prize of $250, are given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essays written by an undergraduate student at Villanova within the last 12 months.
Submissions for the Fischer Award must have been written either for a Villanova English course (all except ENG 1975) or for a Villanova Honors course (1842 level or higher) taught by a member of the Villanova English faculty. It is permissible to revise or expand papers beyond what was submitted for the course. Submissions may be excerpted from a senior Honors thesis.
The Core Literature and Writing Seminar Essay Award, which also comes with a prize of $250, is given to the most distinguished critical essay written for a Villanova Core Literature and Writing Seminar (ENG 1975) in the previous calendar year (i.e. in Spring or Fall 2023).
Format
• In addition to their essay, students should include a cover page including the course and professor for which the paper was written, as well as their email and a local mailing address
• Students should also submit the essay assignment or an approximation of the assignment.
• Essays should be formatted in Times New Roman 12 (or equivalent font) and double-spaced.
• For the Fischer Award, papers up to 6 pages will be considered separately from papers that are 6-15 pages. Longer papers are expected to engage scholarly sources.
• Essays should be formatted in MLA or Chicago Style.
• Only one submission per award is allowed.
• Judges are looking for argumentative originality and rigor, elegance of writing, and interpretive incisiveness. Submissions should be carefully proofread.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 14, 2024. Submissions should be emailed as an attachment to Professor Joseph Drury.
For previous winners, as well as information about Jerome J. Fischer, see our department Awards page.
In addition...
The George D. Murphy, Ph.D. & Honors/English Awards in Creative Writing
The contests are open to all Villanova undergraduates and will be judged anonymously by a panel of Villanova faculty and Philadelphia area writers. Winners will receive a $250 cash award and will be honored and the Department of English awards reception on Friday, April 26.
Guidelines
Entries must be typed. For poetry submit no more than five poems (ten page maximum). Prose entries should be no more than twenty-five pages. The name of the author should only appear on the cover letter and should not appear on the work itself.
The cover letter should include:
Name, address, phone number, major, email and titles of the poems or prose piece.
Email entries as a Word Document to Alan Drew and Lisa Sewell.
George D. Murphy, Ph.D. received his B.A. (1949) and M.A. (1951) in English from Notre Dame University and his Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He joined Villanova’s English Department in 1954 and retired in 2000 after 46 years of service. His scholarly publications focused on American writers of the 20th Century. While at Villanova, he was known for his exquisite sense of humor and a singular gift for recalling and recounting a host of humorous tales. While an undergraduate at Notre Dame, he was on the editorial board of its literary magazine—The Juggler of Notre Dame— and contributed a number of poems, short stories, and critical essays. He returned to creative writing at the end of his life as a way of coping with grief over his wife’s death and produced many first-rate poems.
Deadline: Friday, March 8th
