Congratulations to RC students, RC Creative Writing and Literature majors, or participants in courses offered by the same program for your Hopwood Awards. Kudos for achieving this prestigious honor, and for joining a very elite group of former winners whose work indelibly impacts our world. Fifteen of the 28 awards have an RC connection, and are listed below. A * indicates an RC Creative Writing and Literature Major. 

HOPWOOD UNDERCLASSMEN FICTION
Sofia Spencer*, "Bombshells and Blood: Three Stories"
Jessica Chang, "The Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth"

HOPWOOD UNDERCLASSMEN NONFICTION
Jena Vallina, "Family Heirlooms"
Lia Baldori, "Pop Quiz" and "If It Makes You Happy"
Yi Qing Zhou, "Identity, Ability, and Dubiety"

HOPWOOD UNDERCLASSMEN POETRY
Nora Hilgart-Griff, "Sometimes, the Title Comes First"
Alexander Wagner*, "Under the Christmas Lights"
Magdalena Mihaylova, "Dear Bulgaria," 

THE MICHAEL R. GUTTERMAN AWARD
Alex Kime* (RC alum), "30 seconds to reboot" 

THE ROY W. COWDEN MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP
Nadia Mota*, "somewhere in southeast michigan"
Elena Ramirez-Gorski*, "Beyond all ideas of right and wrong there is a field, I will be meeting you there; an essay"
Emma Richter, "Sunday"

THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS AWARDS - UNDERGRADUATE
Nadia Mota*, "ghazal for fear"

THE MAJORIE RAPAPORT AWARD IN POETRY
Paulina Adams*, "belief"
Elena Ramirez-Gorski*, "Love Song for la Llorona" 

THE THEODORE ROETHKE PRIZE FOR LONG POEM OR POETIC SEQUENCE
David McLeod*

These honors will be conferred on January 30, at 6 p.m. in the Rackham Auditorium at Rackham Graduate School. Natasha Trethewey will read her poetry following the announcement of the awards, and then there will be a light reception. Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014). She is the author of five collections of poetry, Monument (2018), which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award; Thrall (2012); Native Guard (2006), for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002); and Domestic Work (2000) which was selected by Rita Dove as the winner of the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the best first book by an African American poet and won both the 2001 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry. Read more about the award program and Natasha Trethewey at this link. 
 

The Hopwood Program administers the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Awards in writing as well as 3 fellowship competitions, 6 poetry contests, and 16 special prizes. The program was endowed by Avery Hopwood, a popular American dramatist and member of the Michigan Class of 1905. Mr. Hopwood bequeathed one-fifth of his considerable estate to the University of Michigan with the stipulation that it be used to encourage creative writing among students. During the years that have passed since the first Hopwood Awards were made in 1931, we have been able to award a cumulative total of well over $3,000,000 to more than 3,200 gifted writers. Former winners include Arthur Miller, John Ciardi, Mary Gaitskill, Robert Hayden, Lawrence Kasdan, Jane Kenyon, Frank O’Hara, Marge Piercy, Edmund White, and Nancy Willard. The program is currently directed by Professor Michael Byers.