Contests

Each year the department of English awards prizes for the best student writing, for both prose and poetry of creative writing, for critical essays engaged in the analysis and treatment of literature, and, for the Kluver Prize, general excellence in academic writing. Prizes are available to students at all levels, undergraduate and graduate, freshmen through senior, and are drawn from the generous gifts of many donors.

The 2012 contest season will begin in January. Further details, including submission guidelines, will be posted during the fall term. In the meantime, questions about our contests can be emailed to englishC@artsci.wustl.edu; write 'Department Contest' in the subject line. The submission deadline for English Department contests is April 10, 2012.

Cornelison  English.  This prize is to be awarded to an English Department graduate student for excellence demonstrated by a single essay.  You must be nominated in order to submit.  This competition carries two awards.  First-place winner receives $2500 and the second-place winner receives $1500. 

 Academy of American Poets.  This award is established at a college or university for a five-year term, at the end of which it may be renewed for another five years.  Washington University students have benefited from this award since 1967. The Academy pledges $50 to each winner – graduate and undergraduate.

 Roger Conant Hatch.  Mr. Hatch received his Master's degree from Washington University in 1902. Under the terms of his will, money was designated for a University fund.   A prize of $800 from the interest is to be awarded to the best undergraduate writer of lyric poetry.

 Norma Lowry Memorial.  This award was established by Mrs. Lowry's friends in 1963 to encourage student writing in poetry at Washington University. Mrs. Lowry, a poet, took a sustained and lively interest in poetry as practiced on the campus. The competition awards $150 to the undergraduate winner and  $150 to the graduate winner.

 Washington University Prize for Undergraduate Fiction.  This award is sponsored by the graduate fiction workshop of Washington University’s Writing Program to celebrate the work of undergraduate fiction writers.  The contest is open to any current undergraduate who would like to submit a work of short fiction and carries a prize of $100.

 F. Ward Denys.  In 1921 the University established this prize to be awarded by the Department of English annually "to that student in the sophomore class who shows the greatest degree of general excellence in the required work in English." It carries a cash award of $250.

 Harriet Schwenk Kluver.   As encouragement to excellence in writing, Mrs. Kluver, a Washington University alumna, established prizes of $1000 to be awarded to each of two freshmen winners for writing done in any of his or her classes, not simply in Freshman Composition.

 Leanna Boysko.  This award, established in 1990 by Professor Emerita Bernetta Jackson in memory of former graduate student and English Department secretary Leanna Boysko, will be given annually for the best essay written by a junior and a senior for an English composition or an English literature class. The contest carries an award of $100 to each of the winners.

 Dramatics Club of St. Louis.  In 1929 this prize was established to encourage creative work in the study of dramatic literature.  The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students and awards two $1000 prizes.

 Carrie S. Galt Fiction.  This award is sponsored by the Wednesday Club of St. Louis.  It was established in memory of Carrie S. Galt by two of her grandchildren.  Ms Galt was a writer and a graduate of Washington University.  The contest open only to graduate students, awards $200.

 James Merrill Prize for Poetry.  This award was established in 1995 by the English Department to honor the memory of the poet James Merrill.  Mr. Merrill, whose accolades include two National Book Awards, the Bollingen Prize and the Pulitzer Prize, was a good friend to the English Department and to Washington University, which holds a large collection of his papers.  The competition, open to undergraduates, carries a $250 award.

Julia Viola McNeely Prize for Poetry.  This award was established by Ms. McNeely's family to encourage poetry writing by the undergraduates of Washington University.  Ms. McNeely, a Howard Nemerov writing scholar at Washington University, wrote lyric poetry with a spiritual dimension.  The prize carries an award of $300 and is open to undergraduates.

Andrea Goff Memorial Prize for Poetry.  This prize was established by a former teacher of Andrea Goff, to honor her memory. The competition, open only to seniors, carries a $200 award.  

Alena Wilson Memorial Prize for Graduate students enrolled in the Spring 2012 fiction workshop.