Undergraduate Program
Awards
Below you will find information about the Department of English Upperclass Awards and the Academy of American Poets Award.
Upperclass Awards, 2008
Application deadline: Monday, March 24, 2008
(Note: Academy of American Poets Award deadline is Wednesday, March 12.)
Downloads
- Award Descriptions
- Upperclass Awards.doc | for Word
- Upperclass Awards.PDF | for Adobe Reader
DESCRIPTIONS OF AWARDS
Each year, the Department of English uses endowments to present upperclass students with competitive awards in writing. Papers submitted should have been written in English or Journalism courses above the 100 level by declared majors or minors, or by students who were enrolled in the courses during the spring or fall semester of the 2007 calendar year. (However, certain journalism entries need not have been written for a course; see specific criteria below.)
The competitions are for the following awards:
- The Carl R. Greer/Andrew D. Hepburn Senior Prizes in English
First Prize, $5,000; Second Prize, $2,500; Third Prize, $1,700; Fourth Prize, $800. - The Edward J. Montaine Junior Prizes in English
First Prize, $3,000; Second Prize, $2,000; Third Prize, $1,000. - The Almy Awards in Critical Studies
Two awards, $600 each. - The Daniel and Margaret Bookwalter Sophomore Awards in Creative Writing
Two awards, $150 each. - The Mary Jo Priest Memorial Awards in Technical and Scientific Communication
Three awards, $350 each.
Entries in all competitions will be judged by outside evaluators. For the Greer-Hepburn and Montaine Awards, entries will be judged by those evaluators in one of four categories: poetry, fiction, journalism, and non-fiction; then, a Departmental committee will select the best entries overall, without regard to category (four for the Greer-Hepburn, three for the Montaine).
PART ONE. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ALL ENTRIES
Please follow BOTH the general guidelines below for ALL submissions AND the specific guidelines for each award (see Parts Two and Three, below).
1. Include a completed and signed official cover sheet form with each entry. You must provide
- your full name, Banner ID number, phone number, e-mail address, and class standing
- the title(s) of the pieces submitted
- the course(s) in which the piece(s) was/were written, if applicable
- the course instructor(s), if applicable
- a one-paragraph (100-word) biography suitable for use in introducing you at the Departmental Awards ceremony in April, should you win.
2. Type or word-process your entry (except journalism entries), making sure it is free of mechanical errors and clearly legible for photocopying; remove or otherwise obscure instructor’s grades and comments. Photocopy journalism entries on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper.
3. Include only the entry’s title(s) and the award category on the first page of the entry. Make certain that your name and/or your instructor’s name appears only on the cover sheet.
4. Staple the pages of your entry, including the cover sheet; do not use a binder or folder.
Submit Mary Jo Priest Award entries to Ms. Debra Morner in 356G Bachelor.
Place entries for all other awards in the appropriate folder at the front desk in 356 Bachelor.
PART TWO. SPECIFIC GUIDELINES
THE CARL R. GREER/ANDREW D. HEPBURN SENIOR PRIZES AND THE EDWARD J. MONTAINE JUNIOR PRIZES
Eligibility: students with senior (Greer-Hepburn) or junior (Montaine) standing. Previous winners are not eligible.
What you must submit:
Non-fiction category
- A single essay or a portfolio of work completed in one or more of the Department’s courses.
- An essay should be a substantial paper at least 12 to 15 pages long.
- A portfolio should consist of 2 or 3 essays or projects, with a total maximum length of 20 pages.
Journalism category
A portfolio of five to ten published articles of journalistic writing and a cover essay of 250 words describing your growth as a journalistic writer.
The writing may be any combination of the following:
- news stories
- news features
- editorials
- reviews
- feature articles
- sports stories
- columns
The writing must have been published in one of the following while the student was an undergraduate:
- student newspaper
- professional newspaper
- web magazine
- student newspaper web page
- professional newspaper web page
- student magazine
- professional magazine
Poetry category
A collection of poems—not more than five poems, single-spaced.
Other information specific to the poetry awards:
- the student may submit only one entry, in either poetry or prose;
- no winning manuscript from previous years may be submitted;
- the contest will be judged by a writer not affiliated with Miami University;
- The Department of English cannot be held accountable for loss of manuscripts.
Fiction category
One story or one excerpt from a novel—not more than twenty pages long, double-spaced.
Other information specific to the fiction awards:
- no winning manuscript from previous years may be submitted;
- the contest will be judged by a writer not affiliated with Miami University;
- the Department of English cannot be held accountable for loss of manuscripts.
PART THREE. SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR OTHER AWARDS
The Almy Awards in Critical Studies
Eligibility: seniors who are declared English majors and minors or who are students currently enrolled in one of the Department’s literature courses.
What you must submit: an essay with a maximum length of 20 pages that is informed by contemporary literary or cultural theory and that was completed in one of the Department’s courses.
The Daniel & Margaret Bookwalter Sophomore Awards in Creative Writing
Eligibility: all sophomores who are currently enrolled majors or minors in the Department or any currently enrolled sophomore who has taken a Creative Writing course for credit during calendar year 2007.
What you must submit: either not more than five poems or one story or excerpt from a novel, not more than twenty pages long.
The Mary Jo Priest Memorial Awards in Technical & Scientific Communication
One prize each for best report or proposal, best instructional text (print), and best on-line communication; students may submit in more than one category.
Eligibility: all students enrolled as majors or pre-majors in Miami’s Bachelor of Arts in Technical and Scientific Communication.
What you must submit: four copies of each entry. Students should indicate the award they are seeking and include with each entry the following:
- A description of the audience and purpose for which they designed the communication;
- Any relevant background information that will help the judges understand the communication and evaluate its effectiveness, especially why the student chose a particular medium or to what context she/he was responding (submission of this information is optional);
- Requirements and instructions for installing online entries. Online entries may be submitted on disk.
Academy of American Poets Award
Again this year Miami University offers two Academy of American Poets awards of $100 each for an undergraduate and a graduate student; these students do not have to be English majors. The deadline for submissions is March 12, 2008.
The Academy’s Harris S. Abrahams Poetry Prize will go to an undergraduate, and the Betty Jane Abrahams Memorial Poetry Prize will go to a graduate student.
The prize is highly regarded, and a number of winners’ poems will be included in a handsome booklet which the Academy publishes every five years or so. For Miami’s contest, this year’s judge will be Brenda Iijima, a New York City poet and author of several books and chapbooks, who will read at Miami on April 3, 2008.
Submission Instructions
A stapled, typed packet of no more than three (3) poems—with a total of no more than 5 pages—should be placed in Dr. Cathy Wagner’s mailbox in 356 Bachelor Hall by 5 p.m. on March 12, 2008. Students should type or print their names and e-mail addresses in the upper right-hand corner of every page. For more information, contact Cathy Wagner (wagnerc6@muohio.edu).