Student Writing Awards

Through the generous support of the Clark College Foundation, Clark English students have the opportunity to be considered for several writing awards. The Hawkins and Bostwick/Gallivan prizes honor students in several categories. Each April English faculty select the best basic skills, expository, critical, technical, and research essays written during the academic year. Faculty also select the best works of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry written in creative writing classes. Winning works are honored each May at an award banquet and are given a certificate of achievement, a letter of appreciation, and a monetary award.

Creative writing students also have the opportunity to be considered for a McCordic Talent Award. Funded again by the generous support of Clark College Foundation, this award acknowledges the talent of one creative writing student. Nominated and selected by creative writing faculty, the winning student receives a certificate of achievement and a monetary award that is applied towards a tuition payment.

For more information about any of these awards, please contact the faculty listed below:

Hawkins Prize for Academic Writing
Bostwick/Gallivan Prize for Creative Writing
Dr. Gerry Smith
smith@clark.edu
360-992-6058

McCordic Talent Award for Creative Writing
Alexis Nelson
anelson@clark.edu
360-992-2373

Gallivan Prize for Technical Writing
Toby Peterson
tpeterson@clark.edu
360-992-2637

2019 Award Winners

Academic Essay

• 1st Place: "Who Is to Blame: Where Does Personal Choice End and Corporate Responsibility Start?" by Michaela Motschman for Josh Patrick’s 098 class
• 2nd Place: "New Paths" by Savannah Hand for Jill Darley-Vanis’s 097 (I-Best) class

Expository Essay

• 1st Place: “Consuming vs. Wasting" by Jordan Travis by for Mel Favara’s 101 class
• 2nd Place: "Path to Creating A Better World" by Justin Goetz for Mel Favara’s 101 class

Research Essay

• 1st Place: “Mental Health: Fighting the Stigma” by Morghan Codino for Nancy Thompson’s 102 class
• 2nd Place: “The Fallout of Going Nuclear: How the Partisan Split Eroded the U.S. Constitution” by Tristan Volk for Josh Patrick’s 102 class.

Critical Essay

• 1st Place: “What Is Normal?" by S. Michelle Soto for Marylynne Digg’s 254 class
• 2nd Place: “Herrick the Heretic" by Victoria Corkum for Mel Favara’s 265 class

Fiction/Non-Fiction

• 1st Place: "Flashbulb" Reid Brown for Alexis Nelson’s 125 class
• 2nd Place: "Mel’s Palm Bowl” by Karen James for Alexis Nelson’s 121 class
• 3rd Place: "Sunshine Yellow 610” by Jenna Porter for Alexis Nelson’s 125 class

 Poetry

• 1st Place: “Well" by Samantha Brooks for Dawn Knopf’s English 126 class
• 2nd Place: “planting flowers” by Lynnie McIlvain for Dawn Knopf’s 126 class
• 3rd place: “Symphony No. 5” by Jason Kowalski for Dawn Knopf’s 126 class

Technical Writing

• 1st Place: “Generative Design Recommendation Report” by Natalie Gumik for Lindsay Christopher’s 235 class
• 2nd Place: “Short Report on Feasibility of Success as a Diesel Bus and Truck Mechanic" by Trevor Walker for Lindsay Christopher’s PTWR 135 class

McCordic Talent Award for Creative Writing

• Awarded to Shaya Lowe

2018 Award Winners

Academic Essay

• 1st Place: "Zero Tolerance Is the Easy Way Out" by Joe Falkenstein for Kendra Birnley’s 098 class
• 2nd Place: "Final Paper" by Kylie Dorotik for Kendra Birnley’s 098 class

Expository Essay

• 1st Place: “Come Together, Right Now" by Katrina Voll-Taylor for Mel Favara’s 101 class
• 2nd Place: "Escaping Conscious Consumerism" by Andrew Thompson for Mel Favara’s 101 class

Research Essay

• 1st Place: “Prisoners of the War on Drugs" by Keeley Meade for Kendra Birnley’s 102 class
• 2nd Place: “If First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again? How Unregulated CRISPR Will Affect Our Successors" by Katelyn Ebert for Marylynne Digg’s 102 class

Critical Essay

• 1st Place: “From Canonical to Postmodern: Where Are We Now?" by Julia Jones for Jill Darley-Vanis’s 271 class
• 2nd Place: “Adam and Eve in the Garden of Feminism" by Pheanyx Williams for Mel Favara’s 265 class

Fiction/Non-Fiction

• 1st Place: "Two Parts Denial, One Part My Mother" by Jennifer Urban for Alexis Nelson’s 127 class
• 2nd Place: "A Flickering Light" by Leah Sathrum for Alexis Nelson’s 127 class
• 3rd Place: "Sheet Metal" by Lake Jolma for Alexis Nelson’s 125 class

Technical Writing

• 1st Place: “Dimensioning Pen Recommendation Report" by Ryan Whittingham for Lindsay Christopher’s 235 class
• 2nd Place: “Feasibility Analysis of Enzyme Use in the Textile Industry" by Yuliya Yagolnikov for Marylynne Digg’s 235 class

McCordic Talent Award for Creative Writing

• Awarded to John Emenegger and Jennifer Urban

2017 Award Winners

Academic Essay

• 1st Place: “Schools vs. Students” by Jhovanna Sanchez, for Kendra Birnley’s 098 class
• 2nd Place: “Behind the Scenes of Professional Players’ Family Lives” by Belynda Barton, for Josh Patrick’s 098 class

Expository Essay

• 1st Place: “Irony Amidst Higher Education Values” by Paige Galvez, for Josh Patrick’s 101 class
• 2nd Place: “Administrative Influence and Preventing the Academic Crash” by Colin Smith, for Josh Patrick’s 101 class

Research Essay

• 1st Place: “The Importance of Bilingual Programs in Early Education” by Khessed Yoder, for Kendra Birnley’s 102 class
• 2nd Place: “What Is Our Nation’s System Really Fostering?” by Erica Schmidt, for Nancy Thompson’s 102 class.

Critical Essay

• 1st Place: “On Man and God” by Danielle Bondurant, for Jill Darley-Vanis’s 261 class
• 2nd Place: “Relating Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels to the Political Controversies of Today” by Robert Wayper, for Mel Favara’s 265 class

Fiction

• 1st Place: “Novocain” by Andrea Beauchamp, for Elizabeth Donley’s 125 class

Poetry

• 1st Place: “Kind of Morning” by Lauren Duquette, for Dawn Knopf’s 126 class

Technical Writing

• 1st Place: “Recreational Kayaks (Technical Description)” by Kate Jones, for Lindsay Christopher’s 235 class
• 2nd Place: “Feasibility of Investment into Graphene” by Travis Johnson, for Toby Peterson’s 235 class

McCordic Talent Award for Creative Writing

• Awarded to Viveca Duazo for outstanding work in fiction and creative non-fiction

2016 Award Winners

Academic Essay

• 1st Place: “What Behaviors Are Our Children Learning from Sports?” by Emily Dodd, for Josh Patrick’s 098 class
• 2nd Place: “NFL’s Nightmare,” by Austin Gaylor, for Josh Patrick’s 098 class

Expository Essay

• 1st Place: “A Nation Failing: The American School System,” by Madison McKay, for Kate Scrivener’s 101 class
• 2nd Place: “A Better World, a Better People,” by Bridget Ovall, for Heidi Rich’s 101 class

Research Essay

• 1st Place: “Everyone Forgets, Willow: Redefining the Role of Libraries,” by Megan Langham, for Matthew Gallaher’s 102 class
• 2nd Place: “The Social Network: A Teen’s Form of Connection or a Source of Psychological Destruction?” by Sydnie Kobza, for Matthew Gallaher’s 102 class

Critical Essay

• 1st Place: “Anyone but Us: Subjugation and the British Sense of Freedom,” by Schyler Black, for Mel Favara’s 265 class
• 2nd Place: “Dear Richard Galeno,” by Bailey Bray, for Jill Darley-Vanis’s 261 class

Fiction

• 1st Place: “Smoke Break—A Memoir,” by William Erickson, for Alexis Nelson’s 127 class

Poetry

• 1st Place: “On Dusk Lost to Time,” by Shannon M. Owen, for Meredith Stewart’s 126 class

McCordic Talent Award for Creative Writing

• Awarded to Ryan Licini for outstanding work in fiction and creative non-fiction