2023 English Department Writing Awards
Friday, April 28
12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.
The Bianco Room
2023 Competition Winners
Journalism
- Gia Sparacino, Gerard Cannon Award, 1st Place: “Adjuncts: The Unappreciated, Underpaid, Unseen Academics of American Universities,” “Lesbian Legend Elaine Romagnoli Passes, Queer Spaces Die with Her,” and “Man of The Met: A Starving Artist's Story Told”
- Mandi Karpo, Sarah Willis Award, 2nd Place: “University Hosts Historical 2022 NYS Gubernatorial Debate” and “Remembering DJ Henry at Third Annual Social Justice Week”
- Amy Moore, Billie and Curtis Owens Award, 3rd Place: “What Does It Take to Be a Music Journalist with Kim Taylor Bennett”
- Emma Sylvia, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: “The Cult of J.K. Rowling and the Alt-Right Pipeline”
Writing on Film
- Carter Haskins, Gerard Cannon Award, 1st Place: “Jeanne Dielman and Visual Pleasure”
- Lindsey Bourque, Sarah Willis Award, 2nd Place: “I Am Not a Witch: Discussing Witchcraft, Misogyny, and Feminism”
- Kathleen Caraway, Sarah Willis Award, 3rd Place: “Why the Radio in Cleo 5 to 7?”
Literary Criticism
- Cailyn Mickelsen, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “Time in the Margin: Queer Temporality in Mrs. Dalloway”
- Megan Tometich, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “Laughter and Oppression in Good Morning, Midnight and Quicksand”
- Cayla Quinn, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “Hotspur and the Death of Honor: Exchanging Masculinities in 1 Henry IV”
- Elena Sierzchula, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: “Female Rage and Self-Hatred in Modernist Texts”
- Janet Gerges, Billie and Curtis Owens Award, Honorable Mention: “Let’s Talk Grammar”
- Jaeden Pinder, James Rose Award, Honorable Mention: “‘I’ve Never Heard of these People’: Colonizing the Colonizer’s Text in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem”
- Amanda Zinni, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: “‘He’s the Victim of His Own Damn Thing’: Connections Between Hostel (2005) and Fairview”
Poetry
- Jack Niemczyk, David A. Bickimer—Promise of Learnings /Academy of American Poets Prize: “A Successive Issue,” “The Moon’s Phase,” and “Family Meal Pumpkin Apple Bread”
- Detroit Hamell, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “baby,” “1:24am at Heaven’s Bar,” “Frankie Destroyed These Shoes, I Guess,” “Pepper, the Mannequin” and “Ice Cream Man”
- Nina Hook, Billie and Curtis Owens Award, 1st Place: “Southwest Storm,” “Playing with Mother,” “Varenna, Italy,” “The South-Side Dock,” and “Yellow Dress”
- Megan Tometich, James Rose Award, 2nd Place: “Men I Own (Or, In Brief: Boxers)” and “Riding the Bus”
- Laura Gooch, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “the average number of pieces in a broken heart,” “fat never felt pretty,” “blasphemy,” and “EXISTENCE”
- Felicity Flores-Drew, Sarah Willis Award, 3rd Place: “Billie Holiday Sings a Church Hymn,” “Fourth Wish,” “Cure,” “My Dear Sabrina,” and “The Cowardly Lions, My Girl, and Me”
- Emily Shafer, Sarah Willis Award, 3rd Place: “The Armor Rouse,” “August,” “cigarette,” and “sunset”
- Zoe Poulis, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “California Poem,” “a different kind of cold,” “To having your first kiss during an episode of Dance Moms,” “Girlhood,” and “Pretty tears”
- Katie Romanyshyn, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “To cigarettes,” “dysmorphic,” “have a good one,” “'sweet' potatoes,” and “ode to showers”
Comics and Graphic Novels
Scripts
- Sam Davis, Richard Gill Award, 1st Place: Rabbit Ears
- Sarah Kincaid, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: Amortentia
- Kaylyn Wan Ting Yew, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: Birthday Trip
- Ashvin Kapoor, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: The Ashvin Show Man (The Graphic Novel)
- Jonathan Thomas Ovadia, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: Juracán
Essays
- Megan Tometich, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “Are You My Mother? Analysis”
- Olivia Fisher, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “Tomie: An Analysis”
- Leilani Monserrate, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: “An Exploration of Race and Racism through Metaphor in American Born Chinese”
- Laura Gooch, James Rose Award, Honorable Mention: “Fun Home Close Reading,” “Graphic Novels Are Literature, But This Book Is Not,” and “American Born Chinese Close Reading”
Playwriting
- Cambria Kylinn Martin, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: Stranger Grandfather, Stranger Granddaughter
- Kailey Liddell, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: Last Supper and Fat Dog It, Joan
- Charlie Razhanskiy, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: Beyond the Curtain
- Maddie McCool, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: Where the Door Leads
- Veronika Orlovska, Richard Gill Award, Honorable Mention: Off the Rocker
Writing for Film and Television
Feature-Length Screenplays
- Mary Justin, Gerard Cannon Award, 1st Place: The Great Believers
- Lexie Tierney, Sarah Willis Award, 2nd Place: Fangirls
- Eric Ducos, Richard Gill Award, 3rd Place: Life’s a Bitch
Short Film Scripts
- Oliver Schofield, Gerard Cannon Award, 1st Place: I Have the Key to the Incinerator
- Lauren Vogel, Sarah Willis Award, 2nd Place: American Girls
- Joshua Rabin, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Television Scripts
- Jalyn Horhn, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “My Mind's a Burning Hell,” Yellowjackets spec episode
- Charlie Razhanskiy, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “Reunion, Amongst Other Things,” Our Flag Means Death spec episode
- Ethan McKellar, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Sweet Suburban Summers pilot script
Nonfiction
- Sarah Kincaid, Gerard Cannon Award, 1st Place: “Smoker’s Heart”
- Gabriella Herrera, Billie and Curtis Owens Award, 2nd Place: “Profile at Essex Street, Facing the Wall”
- Riley Natalova, James Rose Award, 3rd Place: “7th & A” (Excerpt)
- Mary Justin, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “A Letter to My Sister”
- Kendall Alexis Carter, Sarah Willis Award, Honorable Mention: “Like the Light”
Fiction
- Mary Justin, Billie and Curtis Owens Award, 1st Place: “My Body of Water,” “My Boy and My Mother,” and “The Stripes I Gave My Mother”
- Zoe Schuman, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “A Place to Put the Pieces Down”
- Sylvie Morris, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “Levaya”
- Alexandra Muniz, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “The Creature”
- Laura Gooch, Richard Gill Award, 3rd Place: “Portrait of a Family”
- Nicolina Barone, Richard Gill Award, 3rd Place: Excerpt from A Starless Sky
- Darby O’Brien, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “A Crash Course in Flying”
- Mark Vaksman, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “Tunnel Vision”
Linguistic and Rhetorical Analysis
- Megan Tometich, Sarah Willis Award, 1st Place: “I Amn’t So Sure about Language Anymore: A Literacy Narrative”
- Faith Gregory, Gerard Cannon Award, 2nd Place: “The Talk of the Harries: Language Used in Harry Styles Stan Twitter”
- Ethaniel Curcio, Gerard Cannon Award, 3rd Place: “From Page to Stage: Examining Literacy”
- Kiona Morales, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “Tok Pisin Case Study”
- Elena Sierzchula, Gerard Cannon Award, Honorable Mention: “Development and Appropriation of Slang”
Kelly Herbert Writing Award
- Felicity Flores-Drew, “Sweetest Thing”