News

Congratulations to the 2025 Department of English and Writing Programs undergraduate award recipients!

English Department Essay Award

Tali Lebowitsch

Recognizing ACES 2025 Participants:

Citlaly Abundio
Syndia Barba
Jolie Beal
Alex Bravo
Rufina Chow
Maximilian Chu
Joseph DeFreitas
Brianna Gonzalez Ulloa
Chaunti Hatchett
Kayleen Kim
Samantha Lee
Nick Mersereau
Robert Murata
Cesar Saldana
Jane Sonnichsen
Sam Wolf

Barbara Bellow Watson Shakespeare Essay Contest

Briana Fowler (2025)
Sofia Rossi (2024)

Harold Dee Fox Memorial Scholarship for Outstanding Transfer Student Performance

Winner: Alexandra McCullough

David Wong Louie Memorial Creative Writing Prize

Co-Winners: Joseph DeFreitas and Tavish Mohanti

The Olfet Agrama Prize for Creative Writing

First Place: Ashlynn Armendariz

The May Merrill Miller Award

First Place: Kristin Haegelin
Second Place: Emily Hsi

The Ruth Brill Scholarship Award

First Place: Chaunti Hatchett
Second Place: Issy McKellar

The Shirley Collier Prize

Winner:
Jett Felder

2024-2025 Mary Alice Fortin Foundation Creative Writing Award

Gianluca Canseco
Berenice Limeta Jimenez
Ashley Lin
Issy McKellar
Jessica Meeker
Fatima Wajid
Christina Walsh

The Fred and Edith Herman Memorial Prize from the Academy of American Poets

Winner: Alex Bravo
Honorable Mention: Fatima Wajid

The Shirle Dorothy Robbins Creative Writing Award

First Place: Haley Marks
Second Place: Jolie Beal

2024 – 2025 Falling Leaves Prize

Natalia Tapia

2025 – 2026 Falling Leaves Prize

First Place: Benjamin Wasson
Second Place: Natalie Chen

Department Honors

Allison Castiel – Honors
Krish Aditya – Highest Honors
Syed (Zain) Aslam – Highest Honors
Faith Forrest – Highest Honors
David Gamboa – Highest Honors
Evelyn Giron-Aguilar – Honors
Kristen Perez – Highest Honors
Cara Rieber – Honors
Keertana Sreekumar – Highest Honors
Sophia Torres Pomares – Highest Honors
Michaela Rhiannon Trelby – Highest Honors
Brent Austin Tuverson – Highest Honors
Olivia Voelkel – Honors
Citlaly Abundio – Highest Honors
Nicolette Bond – Highest Honors
Alex Bravo – Highest Honors
Kendra Christian – Highest Honors
Sophie Crivier – Honors
Jett Felder – Highest Honors
Chloe Gaume – Honors
Julie Gomez – Honors
Kristin Haegelin – Honors
Julianne Le – Honors
Julia Maeding – Honors
Ryan Riffenburgh – Highest Honors
Naomi Young – Highest Honors

Thompson Prize for Outstanding Senior Thesis

David Gamboa
Alex Bravo

Writing Programs Awards

Peter Rotter First-Year Writing Prize

Yueyang Liu

Peter Rotter Essay Prize

Avery Ngo

Teague Melville Writing Awards

Kiersta Donnelly
Micah Hoffman
Samuel Matsumoto

Tom Davey Science Writing Prize

Manasi Vartak