Prizes & Awards 2012
Elizabeth Babcock Poetry Prize
Awarded for the best poem by an undergraduate. Competition is not open to those who have already won the prize, nor may the poem have been printed previously.
- Vanessa Brewster 'AC, "Murder in my Mouth"
Ethel Olin Corbin Prize
Awarded for the best original poem (preferably blank verse, sonnet or ballad) or informal essay by an undergraduate.
- Jessica McQuillan '12," 'The Problem of the Royal Slave': Slavery in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko"
Ruth Forbes Eliot Prize
Awarded for the best poem submitted by a first-year or sophomore.
- Hanae Jonas '14, "Sword"
Rosemary Thomas Poetry Prize
Awarded for the best poem or group of poems.
- Vanessa Raditz '12, "The In Between"
Elizabeth Drew Fiction Prize
Awarded for the best fiction written by an undergraduate.
- Emily Atkinson '13, "The Sorrows"
Elizabeth Drew Essay Prize
Awarded for the best classroom essay on a literary subject submitted by an undergraduate to a class taught by a member of the English department.
- Jessica McQuillan '12, "Poisoned Nature: Moral Ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Rappaccini's Daughter' "
- Madeline Zehnder '13, " Styling the Superficial: The Importance of Being Earnest and Sartor Resartus"
Elizabeth Drew Memorial Prizes
Awarded for (a) the best honors thesis in English, and (b) the best essay on a literary subject submitted by a first-year
- Jessica McQuillan '12, "Shadows on the 'Little Bit...of Ivory': Jane Austen's Religious and Political Convictions as Expressed in her Novels"
Eleanor Cederstrom Prize
Awarded for the best poem by an undergraduate, written in a traditional verse form.
- Erin Kelly 'AC, "Wooden Porch Evening"
Helen Kate Furness Prize
Awarded for the best essay on a Shakespearean theme prepared in courses or seminars and recommended by the instructors of such courses or seminars. Honors theses are not eligible.
- Jessica McQuillan '12, "From ariel's Espionage to Feste's 'Farting' Pipes: The Importance of Sound in Twelfth Night and The Tempest "
James T. and Ellen M. Hatfield Memorial Prize
Awarded to a senior majoring in English for the best short story.
- No prize was given this year.
Mrs. Montagu Prize
Awarded for the best essay on a literary subject concerning women.
- Madeline Zehnder '13, "Shaping and Escaping Narrative in Alice Munro's 'Friend of My Youth' "
Gertrude Posner Spencer Prize
Awarded for excellence in writing fiction and nonfiction prose.
- Lily Farrell '13, "Wanting Two Mutually Exclusive Things at the Same Time"
- Emily Atkinson '13, "The Quality of Mercy"
- Amanda Lewis '14, "The Very Silly"
Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize
Awarded for the best poem or group of poems by an undergraduate.
- Victoria Henry '13J, "Five Hundred Lost Photos"
Emogene Mahoney Memorial Prize
- Gavriella Levy Haskell '15, "A Taxonomic Approach" (on Peter Mark Roget)
Norma M. Leas Memorial Prize
Awarded to a graduating English major for excellence in written English.
- Jessica McQuillan '12
Clara French Memorial Prize
Awarded to a graduating English major with the highest GPA
- Jessica McQuillan '12
Vernon Harward Prize
Awarded for the best student scholar of Chaucer.
- Abigail Sprenkle '14
- Sarah Yarborough '12
Mary Augusta Jordan Prize
Awarded for the most original work in prose or verse by a senior
- Kelsey Swensen '13, "La Chute Montmorency"
Elizabeth Wanning Harries Prize
Awarded for the best essay by an Ada Comstock Scholar
- Jennifer Eckert AC '12
