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Sweetland and the English Department Writing Program offer prizes for student writers in LSA. Sweetland’s prizes include: the Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing, and the Prize for Excellence in Upper-Level Writing. These prizes are awarded annually in the winter term, and winning entries are published digitally to showcase excellence in writing across the College. Instructors nominate student writing for each of the prizes. Learn more about nominating a student.

2025 Writing Prize Winners

First-Year Writing Prizes

Feinberg Family Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing

Narrative Composition Winner
Corina Jing, "The Red Envelope"
Written for English 124: Academic Writing and Literature, Instructor: Madeline Hennessey

Analytic Composition Winner
Luca Pedroni, "Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa"
Written for English 125: Writing and Academic Inquiry, Instructor: Madeline Hennessey

Research-Based Composition Winner
Maximilian Thompson, "Childhood as a Concept: Shifting, Fluctuating, Evolving"
Written for English 125: Writing and Academic Inquiry, Instructor: Ryan McCarty

Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing

Julia Kwan, "Were Cinderella's Slippers Glass or Gold?"
Written for COMPLIT 122, Instructor: Uluc Berkay

Xavier Prokurat, "Queer Lexicons: A Study of Gay Argots and Their Impact on Global Communities,"
Written for WRITING 160: Multilingual Writing, Instructor: Allie Piippo

Upper-Level Writing Prizes

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Social Sciences)

Bhaavna Yalavarthi, "The National School Lunch Program: An Analysis and Recommendations for Improvement"
Written for PUBHLTH 323: Food Security in the U.S., Instructor: Jennifer Garner

Lucy Petee, "Ask Moira Lee"
Written for COGSCI 302: Moral Psychology, Instructor: Mara Bollard

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Natural Sciences)

Lin Yang, "Do Chimpanzee Have an Economy?"
Written for ANTHRBIO 368/PSYCH 338: Intro to Primate Behavior, Instructor: Stacy Rosenbaum

Michelle Huang, "Death Through a Maternal Lens: The Effects of Social Bonds, Repercussions, and Benefits on Non-Human Primate Responses to Conspecific Death"
Written for ANTHRBIO 368/PSYCH 338: Intro to Primate Behavior, Instructor: Stacy Rosenbaum

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Humanities)

Anonymous, "Us—Remember"
Written for ENG 425: Advanced Essay Writing - The Lyric Essay - Acts of Strangeness, Instructor: David Ward

Idris Young, "H...Held in the Possible"
Written for ARTDES 399: Writing in Art and Design, Instructor: Jennifer Metsker