KINGSTON, R.I. – April 27, 2023 – Six University of Rhode Island students were named recipients of the 2022-2023 URI Writing Award. The award recognizes the best writing produced by undergraduate and graduate students in each of four categories — advocacy, creative, scholarly/research and science.

The awards were started four 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 over 150 submissions for the 2022-2023 awards. This year’s winners are:

Advocacy

Undergraduate: Joseph Amaral ’23, African studies and communications studies, for “Identity Construction: The Rhetoric of Blackness.” (No award was made for Advocacy Graduate this year.)

Creative

Graduate: Tatiana Duvanova ’24, English, for “A Dress.” Undergraduate: August LaPorte ’26, psychology and elementary education, for “Bees Too Cold to Fly.”

Scholarly/Research

Graduate: Nikol Damato ’23, marine affairs, for “Kin in Captivity: The U.S. Aquarium Trade and Killer Whales.” Undergraduate: Clare Tyler ’23, history, for “Prince Jenckes a Black Invalid Soldier: A Unique Case of Disability, Race, and Poverty in the Early United States.”

Science

Graduate: Ally Overbay ’24, environmental science and management, for “Citizen Science in the North Woods.” (No award was made for Science Undergraduate this year.)