KINGSTON, R.I. – April 19, 2024 – Eight University of Rhode Island students have been named recipients of the 2023-24 URI Writing Award. The award recognizes the best writing produced by undergraduate and graduate students in each of four categories of writing – advocacy, creative, scholarly/research, and science.

The awards were started five years ago by Heather Johnson, teaching professor of writing and rhetoric and director of Writing Across URI, to highlight student writing across a variety of disciplines. Since then, the awards have expanded to include a creative writing category and to accept submissions from both graduate and undergraduate writers.

There were more than 140 submissions for this year’s awards. The winners are:

Advocacy

Graduate: Nara Wisesa ’26, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in marine affairs, for “Hantu Laut: The Ghosts of Colonialism in Indonesia’s Marine Conservation.”

Undergraduate: Bridget Clossick ’24, history, for “A Call to Action: Addressing the Root Causes of American School Shootings.”

Undergraduate: Dennis Haggerty ’25, history and political science, for “Preparing for the Next Pandemic: U.S. and Rhode Island Pandemic Preparedness.”

Creative

Graduate: Tatiana Duvanova ’24, English, for “Fatigue.”

Undergraduate: Kelly Sullivan ’25, psychology, for “Grief in 5 Pages.”

Scholarly/Research

Graduate: Ryan Cox ’27, music, for “‘Command Me to be Well’¹: An Exploration of Religious Imagery in Hozier’s Music.”

Undergraduate: Karli Belyea ’24, philosophy, for “True Virtue and Illusory Virtue in Plato’s ‘Phaedo.’”

Science

Graduate: Rafeed Hussain ’24, marine affairs, for “Northward Bound? How Community Science is Helping Researchers Understand if Climate Change is Causing the Atlantic Blue Crab to Expand its Range.”