Undergraduate Writing Awards

The English Department is pleased to announce its annual awards competition for excellence in student writing. The competition is open to all undergraduate students at Auburn University. A $100 reward is offered for the best student work submitted in each of the following categories: Poetry, Creative Prose, and Academic Essay.

Poetry: One or several poems, 10 pages maximum ("Poetry" is anything that calls itself poetry.)

Creative Prose: One story or other work of creative fiction or non-fiction, 20 pages maximum

Academic Essay: One essay, 30 pages maximum, including notes (An "academic essay" is any paper or project that has been submitted for an English course at Auburn, at any level; or any paper or project written by an English major at Auburn.)

The Fine Print: Students submit two copies of each entry. The pages of each entry should be numbered and list the title of the work but have no other identifying information. Each entry must be accompanied by a title page that contains the student's name AND the title(s) of the works submitted. These identifiers will be removed before the entries are submitted to the judges. For entries in the "Academic Essay" category, students should submit a copy of the specifications for the essay, or an assignment sheet, with the essay.

Students may submit only one entry per category, but may enter in two or three categories each year. No student can win in more than one category in any year. No student may win in the same category in consecutive years.

A panel of English faculty will judge the entries and their decision is final.

Among the criteria used to judge the entries are originality, style, clarity, and coherence of structure and content, and depth of insight.

Winners for 2005

For the Category of Poetry:

Winner: Kathryn E. Baldwin, "Postcard"

For the Category of Creative Prose:

Winner: Melissa K. Bridges, "Christmas Lights"

For the Category of Academic Essay:

Winner: Elizabeth M. Kent, "The Homecoming: Cathy's Ghost Transcends Medium"

Winners for 2004

For the Category of Poetry:

Winner: Crystal Dean, "Ice Cream"

Honorable Mention: Brian Woodham, Jr., "Widowed"

For the Category of Creative Prose:

Winner: Charles Enoch, "Ghosts"

For the Category of Academic Essay:

Winner: Rebecca Leadingham, "Song of Edna Pontellier: Performed by the Seductive Sea"

Winners for 2003

For the Category of Poetry:

Winner: Amanda J. Watts, "Envy of Autumn"

Honorable Mention: Holley E. Gautney, "Before Bulimia"

For the Category of Creative Prose:

Winner: Sarah C. Godwin, "Time"

For the Category of Academic Essay:

Winner: Elizabeth Dillard, "Gray Hair, The Crown of Wisdom and the Mark of Forgetfulness"

Honorable Mention: Troy Woollen, "Medievalization, Modernization, and the Puzzle of Pandaras in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde"

Winners for 2002

For the Category of Poetry:

Winner: Callie Maudlin, "On the Bus"

Honorable Mentions: Callie Maudlin, "Near to Beautiful"

Keisha Oldacre, "In Search of My Grandmother's Garden"

For the Category of Creative Prose:

Winner: Keisha Oldacre, "Going Somewhere"

Honorable Mentions: Rachel E. Moore, "I Hear You Breathing"

Brantley Raley, "Three"

For the Category of Academic Essay:

Winner: Brooke Bullman, "Finer Natures"

Winners for 2001

For the Category of Poetry:

Winner: Lee Anne Gordon, "Antonio."

Honorable Mention: Tara Tyson, "Liberation" and Jason MacLain, "Fundamentals."

For the Category of Creative Prose:

Winner: Tara Tyson, "Grace."

Honorable Mention: Amanda Hudson, "Peter Pan, Jesus and the Big Bad Wolf."

For the Category of Academic Essay:

Co-Winners: Troy Woollen, "Politics and Religion" and Patricia Cooper, "Integrity is Going to Hell in a Hand Basket, and Cosmopolitan is Packing the Sandwiches."

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Last updated April 26, 2005