Essay Contest

Entering

Each spring, the Writing Program sponsors a competition among English 101, 102, 105 classes to choose the best student essay from each course. Instructors may submit up to two essays from each section they taught in the preceding calendar year, and students are welcome to submit their own work. The winners are presented at the English Department Awards Day ceremony held in April. Students placing first receive a $100 cash prize. Students must be enrolled during the semester the awards are presented.

View and print Entry Form, Originality Form, and Permission Form.

Winning Essays, 2000

• Best Essay, English 101:
  Ashley Clark, "Colleges Should Not Attempt to Regulate or Ban Offensive Speech"
  
  
• Best Essay, English 102:
  Jennifer M. Spalding, "The Devil of Our Cities"
  
  
• Best Essay, English 105:
  Amy Thomas, "The (Artificial) American Dream"
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 101:
  Katharina Kohler, "Mars and Venus Move Over"
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 102:
  Emily Farmer, "Obscene Profits"
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 105:
  Robin Stewart, "Porn Wars"
  
  

Winning Essays, Previous Years

• Best Essay, English 101:
  Nicholas Dobson, "Shaving My Milk Mustache" (1999)
  
  
• Best Essay, English 102:
  Jennifer Allen, "Southerners: Backwoods Hillbillies or Regular People" (1999)
  
  
• Best Essay, English 105:
  Emily Padgett, "Who Will Fight?" (1999)
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 101:
  Lucy Raymond, "Preventing Expression: The Censorship of Art" (1999)
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 102:
  Renee Saunier, "America the Wasteful" (1999)
  
  
• Honorable Mention, English 105:
  Jessica Smith, "Guardian Angel, Grim Reaper, or the Mediator In-Between" (1999)