Department of English Honors and Awards

2023 Awards

New Award Added:

2023 Sean Pauzauskie Literature and Medicine Award

This award provides financial support for students in the English Department who are considering a career in healthcare. To apply, submit a 1-2 page personal statement and a signed W9 to Centennial Clogston at englishadmin@ku.edu by April 3rd. The statement should describe the applicant's healthcare-related career goals and the connections they see between the study of literature and medicine.

Please contact Paul Outka (paul.outka@ku.edu), chair of the English Department Awards Committee if you need any additional information. 
 

Awards Call
W9

2022 Awards

The KU English Department recognizes the following undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members for the 2021-2022 academic year. 

Where there is more than one recipient for an award, individuals are listed alphabetically by surname unless otherwise specified.

 

GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS

 

THE DR. ANNE MARIE TURNER AWARD
The Department of English provides a single annual award to a graduate student in English at the University of Kansas who has done outstanding research in the field of American literature as demonstrated by a project of publishable quality. The project might be a research paper written for a course, an MA thesis, a doctoral dissertation chapter, or a scholarly article; must concern American literature; and must be of publishable quality. Candidates must be nominated by a professor in the Department of English.

  • Sharon Mugg

 

JAMES A. GOWEN MEMORIAL AWARD
The English department provides a single annual award to a graduate student who has demonstrated, in a significant way a serious concern for, and achievement in, rhetoric, composition studies, or the English Language. Applicants were considered on the basis of outstanding or unusual activity in one or more of the following areas: innovative approaches to the teaching of writing; attendance at professional conferences; publication record; thesis or dissertation content and quality.

  • Charlesia McKinney
  • Christopher Peace

 

THE KENNETH ROCKWELL AWARD
For excellence in the study of literature based upon the submission of one critical essay and a Degree Progress Report. 

1st Place:

  • Michael Johnson, "A Tale of Two Faces"

2nd Place (tie):

  • Jimin Choi, "Reimagining the British Home: Dorothea Brooke's Roman Museum in George Eliot's Middlemarch"
  • Ayah Wakkad, "Decolonizing the Prison: Towards a Culture of Consciousness"

 

THE RAMESH THIPPAVAJJALA MEMORIAL AWARD
For international graduate students in the department of English. Named in honor of Dr. Ramesh Thippavajjala, award-winning teacher and scholar, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and is the father of former KU Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Neeli Bendapudi, this award is given to an international graduate student in the Department of English who has demonstrated excellence in the fields of literature or creative writing or language, rhetoric and composition.

  • Ayah Wakkad

 

THE WILLIAM ALBRECHT MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
For a significant research project based upon a research proposal. Recipient must be a graduate student enrolled in English at the University of Kansas and returning to KU for at least one more semester of study.

  • Brynn Fitzsimmons

 

 

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT TEACHING AWARDS

 

OUTSTANDING INSTRUCTOR AWARD
The Department of English at the University of Kansas recognizes Graduate Teaching Assistants or Lecturers who have distinguished themselves by the quality of their teaching.

  • Divya Bhalla
  • Abby Breyer
  • Brynn Fitzsimmons
  • Charlesia McKinney

 

THE MABEL S. FRY AWARD
For excellence in teaching based upon nominations by undergraduate and graduate students of the department.

  • Giselle Anatol

 

THE SELDEN LINCOLN WHITCOMB FELLOWSHIP
For excellence in scholastic research and promise in the field of teaching based upon a short personal statement, one critical essay, and evidence of exemplary classroom teaching. 

  • Brynn Fitzsimmons
  • Zachary Smith

 

STEPHEN F. EVANS AWARD
For excellence in course development. The Department of English at the University of Kansas recognizes Graduate Teaching Assistants or Lecturers who have distinguished themselves by the quality of their course design and development.

  • Iain Ellis
  • Sarah Kugler
  • Ayah Wakkad

 

CONGER-GABEL TEACHING PROFESSORSHIP

  • Ayesha Hardison
  • Kij Johnson
  • Paul Outka

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS

 

THE HELEN RHODA HOOPES AWARD
For the best essays submitted in fulfillment of a regular class assignment by undergraduate women.

1st Place:

  • Fatima Asif, "Static Characterization in Robinson Crusoe"
  • Kat Balke, "Hamlet's Cheshire Cat"
  • Helene Bechtel, "Climate Change Permeates Narrative: Olivia Butler's Parable of the Sower"
  • Winter Doud, "Rewriting the Script"
  • Kai Hansen, "Shakesqueer: An Analysis of Queer Subtext in Hamlet"
  • Beth Heimann, "Gender and Religion in Jacobs' Incidents"
  • Maha Kyasa, "Subverting Failure in Queerness"
  • Audrey Lehman, "Tom's Tenuous Take on Identity in The Mill on the Floss"
  • Faith Maddox, "The Woman as Nonhuman"
  • Samiya Rasheed, "The Not-I Bird and the Value of Sacrifice"
  • Olivia Robison, "The Painted Angel"
  • Gabriela Ruiz, "Immigration Stories and the Elusiveness of Home"
  • Katie Taylor, "Life in the Background"

2nd Place:

  • Margaret Bears, "Incidents: Slavery and the Perversion of Christian Morality"
  • Emily Counsil, "The Rhetoric of Choice"
  • S.J. Dahms, "Climate Narratives: The Windigo as a Successful Climate Villain"
  • Amber Dial, "Agency in A Midsummer Night's Dream"
  • Kendra Gardner, "The American Woman's Bildungsroman"
  • Mackenzie Gregory, "Proposals in Jane Eyre"
  • Ashley Honey, "Performance of Class in Little Women"
  • Cherin Russell, "Exploring Mutism in the Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction"

 

ILUS W. DAVIS/HENRY MATTHEW WEIDNER AWARD
Open to students who are undergraduate men. For the best essays submitted in fulfillment of a regular class assignment by undergraduate men. 

1st Place:

  • Jamie Hall, "Friday's Tongue"
  • Adam Lancaster, "No One: Identity, Colonialism, and Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"
  • Darian Martin, "Indigenous Knowledge and the Unquenchable Thirst for Excess in Braiding Sweetgrass"
  • Brad Mathewson, "The Sad Epoch: The Rhetoric of Girlhood and Spanning Disparities"
  • Paddy Qiu, "Unabridged Letter"
  • Josh Rubino, "Arcade Fire and Neoliberalism"

2nd Place:

  • Josh Meckstroth, "Isolation and Connection in Frankenstein"
  • Andrew Windish, "A Multitude of Pluralities"

 

KENNETH ROCKWELL AWARD for excellence in the study of literature
For the best essay submitted in fulfillment of a regular class assignment. 

Morgan Van Der Wege

 

DORICE WILLIAMS ELLIOTT AWARD
For excellence in the study of pre-1900 literature.

Winner:

  • Beth Heimann, "Middle Ground: Sight, Religion, and the Ghost in Hamlet"

Honorable Mention:

  • Ashley Honey, "Gender and Class Performance in M.E. Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret"

 

OUTSTANDING SENIORS

  • Helene Bechtel
  • Emily Counsil
  • Claire Devolder
  • Matt DeVries
  • Elizabeth Grinage
  • Michaela Harding
  • Marley Hays
  • Claire Kirchner
  • Faith Maddox
  • Darian Martin
  • Ajraya Moreno
  • Kayla Pelmore
  • Connor Reazin
  • Josh Rubino
  • Lily Swanson
  • Morgan Van Der Wege
  • Matthew Weich

 

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT WRITING AWARDS

 

THE WILLIAM HERBERT CARRUTH MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST
For undergraduate students based upon the submission of one to three poems.

1st Place:

  • Shanta Dickerson

2nd Place:

  • Faith Maddox
  • Samantha Moon
  • Samiya Rasheed
  • Devon Weber

3rd Place:

  • Maargaret Bears
  • Madeline Clark
  • Paddy Qiu

 

THE HENRY MATTHEW WEIDNER CREATIVE WRITING AWARD
For the best portfolio of work by a graduate student.

Fiction
1st Place:

  • Brendan Williams-Childs

2nd Place:

  • Logan Jorgenson

3rd Place:

  • Jason Baltazar

Poetry
1st Place:

  • Meagan Dermody

2nd Place:

  • L Favicchia

3rd Place:

  • Ryan Skrabalak

 

THE EDNA OSBORNE WHITCOMB AWARD
For a junior or senior woman majoring in English.

  • Kai Hansen

 

THE EDGAR WOLFE AWARD IN FICTION
For best short story by an undergraduate.

1st Place:

  • Katie Taylor

2nd Place:

  • Helene Bechtel
  • Brad Mathewson
  • Freeman Spray

3rd Place:

  • Adam Lancaster
  • Connor Reazin
  • Lydia Solomon

 

THE C.L. CLARK WRITING AWARD
For a piece of fiction that tackles themes of power or inequality.

1st Place (Graduate):

  • Jason Baltazar

2nd Place (Graduate):

  • Erika Grandstaff

1st Place (Undergraduate):

  • Cara Broel
  • Lydia Solomon

 

THE THOMAS J. O’DONNELL AWARD IN CREATIVE NONFICTION

1st Place (Graduate):

  • L Favicchia

2nd Place (Graduate):

  • Divya Radhika Bhalla

3rd Place (Graduate):

  • Jason Baltazar

1st Place (Undergraduate):

  • Grace Cooper
  • Lily Swanson

2nd Place (Undergraduate):

  • Brad Mathewson
  • Rachel Paese
  • Paddy Qiu

3rd Place (Undergraduate):

  • Winter Doud
  • Kendra Gardner
  • Samantha Moon
  • Morgan Van Der Wege

 

THE MAXWELL NATURE WRITING CONTEST
For the best nature essay or nature-themed story.

Essay Awards
1st Place (Graduate):

  • L Favicchia

2nd Place (Graduate):

  • Meagan Dermody

1st Place (Undergraduate):

  • Darian Martin

Fiction Awards
1st Place (Graduate):

  • Logan Jorgenson

2nd Place (Graduate):

  • Brendan Williams-Childs

3rd Place (Graduate):

  • Ryan Skrabalak

1st Place (Undergraduate):

  • Lily Swanson

2nd Place (Undergraduate):

  • Margaret Bears

3rd Place (Undergraduate):

  • Kendra Gardner

4th Place (Undergraduate):

  • S.J. Dahms
  • Josh Rubino

Honorable Mention (Undergraduate):

  • Ashley Honey

 

THE JOHN F. EBERHARDT EXCELLENCE IN WRITING AWARD
For English double majors or English minors.

  • Fatima Asif
  • Maha Kyasa

 

THE JAMES E. GUNN AWARD FOR SCIENCE FICTION WRITING for best story
For graduate and undergraduate students based on the submission of a science fiction story written in a KU English class.

Winner (Graduate):

  • Erika Grandstaff, "The Donor"

Runner up (Graduate):

  • Brendan Williams-Childs, "The Angel House"

Winner (Undergraduate):

  • Lydia Solomon, "The Gold"

Runner up (Undergraduate):

  • Kayla Renee Pelmore, "Another Me"

 

FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH AWARDS
The Department of English recognizes excellence in writing for papers written in fulfillment of assignments in English 101-102, English 203, and English 209-211 courses.

ENGL 101:

  • Jazzy Najafizadeh

ENGL 102:

  • Henri Groves
  • Gabriela Howard

ENGL 209:

  • Alyssa Cangelose
  • Molly Smith