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Department of English

Prizes & Scholarships

The Department of English offers a variety of Scholarship Awards and Writing Contest Prizes. Four writing contests are open to both undergraduate and graduate students, whether majors or non-majors. These include The Nancy A. Potter Short Story Contest, The Nancy A. Potter Poets Contest, The Creative Non-Fiction Contest, and The Critical Essay Contest.

Click here for the 2012 Writing Contests submission information.

The Rumowicz Maritime Essay Contest is open to undergraduate students only.

Each award recipient in all of these contests receives a Certificate of Recognition in their prize category. Prizes are awarded annually, and presented at a reading/celebration at the English Department's Awards Day Ceremony held in April of each year.

2012 English Writing Contests Finalists

2012 Rumowicz Maritime Essay Contest Finalists

2011 English Department Award for Excellence


Recepient Jason Boulanger and Dr. Ryan Trimm, Chair

University Academic Excellence in English Awards

Joy Brennan and Krista D'Amico

English Excellence in Teaching Awards

Benjamin Hagen, Mihaela Harper, Dr. Ryan Trimm, Kim Evelyn and Dr. Valerie Karno

2011 English Writing Contest Award Recipients


Front row: Melissa Tullo, Emma Sconyers, Jessica Martin, Brigid Flynn,
Jessica Watson, Elora Sullivan
Back row: Jacob Nelson, John Holmes, Samuel Levine, Christopher Menihan,
Jordan Pailthorpe

The Nancy Potter Short Story Contest

Undergraduate Division
First Place: Samuel Levine - "Glancing City"
Second Place: John Holmes - "The Supermarket"
Third Place: Melissa Tullo - "Tick Tock"

The Nancy Potter Poets Contest

(While one poem is highlighted,
all awards in this category were given for a group of poems.)
Undergraduate Division
First Place: Samuel Levine - "The Family Business"
Second Place: Jordan Pailthorpe - "Defined by an Urban Dictionary"
Third Place: Krista D'Amico - "re: vision: each bend shifts the prism"

Graduate Division
First Place: Jacob Nelson - "Hurricane Brandy"


Creative Non-Fiction Contest

Undergraduate Division
First Place: Emma Sconyers - "Calluses"
Second Place: Jessica Martin - "Black Girl"
Third Place: Jessica Watson - "The Brown Bear Song"

Graduate Division
First Place: Sarah Kruse - "Notes in Minute Particulars"

Critical Essay Contest

Undergraduate Division
First Place: Samuel Levine - "'Father to my Story': Silence, Repression,
and the Metafictional Aesthetics of Coetzee and Calvino"
Second Place: Elora Sullivan - "Cross-dressing's Ability to Alter Identity:
The Performance of Gender in Twelfth Night
Third Place: Marisa O'Gara - "Princes of Hell or Prisoners of Hell?
A Close Reading of Beelzebub's Argument in Book II"
Graduate Division
First Place: Mihaela Harper - "Breaking Up, Down, and Out with
Georgi Gospodinov's Natural Novel
Second Place: Brigid Flynn - "Britches, Bitches and Witches:
Identity of the Female Subject in Not So Quiet...
Third Place: Gabriel E. Romaguera - "Avoiding the Straight and Narrow:
Learning through Exploration in The Diamond Age"




The Rumowicz Maritime Essay Contest

First Place: Samuel Levine - "Amphibiography"
Second Place: Sheana Livingstone - "Marginal Madness"
Third Place: Jessica Watson - "Fenced in by Earth"

Scholarships

The Department of English offers six undergraduate scholarships. These are open to English majors. Scholarships are awarded annually and presented at the English Department's Awards Day Ceremony held in April of each year.

Helen Manning, Zachary Cooper, Dr. Ryan Trimm,
Christopher Menihan, Khori Lopes and Sarah Fitzpatrick

The Department of English would like to congratulate the 2010 scholarship recipients for their academic achievement:

Zachary Cooper, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Khori Lopes, Helen Manning, and Christopher Menihan.

Pictured: Krista D'Amico, recipient of the Dana Shugar scholarship, and Department Chair Stephen Barber.

Contact the English Department Undergraduate Advisor for further information. Please find descriptions of all these scholarship awards below:

Nancy Potter Scholarship

Income from endowment provides funds for a scholarship that is awarded annually to a junior English major for excellence in English studies. Recipient is selected by the Department of English. The Nancy Potter Scholarship was established in 1988.

Edna L. Steeves Scholarship

Income from this endowment provides funds for a scholarship that is awarded annually to an English major with high academic achievement. Recipient is selected by the Department of English. The Edna L. Steeves Scholarship was established in November 1995.

Rox-Ellene Greenlaw Memorial English Scholarship

Income from this endowment provides funds for a scholarship that is awarded annually to a female English major who is in her third year and is a Rhode Island resident. The award is based on academic excellence and achievement, dedication to studies, personal integrity, willingness to assist others, and love of the literary arts. Recipient is selected by the Department English. The Rox-Ellene Greenlaw Memorial English Scholarship was established in December 1998.

Dana Shugar Memorial Scholarship

The Dana Shugar Memorial Scholarship Fund rotates between the English Department and the Women's Studies Program. The scholarship is awarded to a female undergraduate student based on academic excellence and financial need. This scholarship was established in 2002. In 2006 the Scholarship will be awarded to an English Major.

Gertrude Spencer Scholarship

The Gertrude Spenser Scholarship is awarded annually to English Majors for demonstration of excellence in written command of the English language. This scholarship was established in 2005.

M. Beverly Swan Endowment

Income from this Endowment is used to support a female student majoring in English. Financial need and academic achievement are considered. This scholarship was established in 2005.