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2023–2024 Kelsey Prize Winners

We are pleased to announce the three winners of the 2023–2024 Kelsey Prize for Excellence in Archaeological Research and Interpretation.

About the Winners

Erin Evans

Erin is currently a University of Michigan senior graduating in May 2024. She is studying creative writing and literature in the Residential College and the Department of Film, Television, and Media. If it wasn’t clear from these majors, she has a passion for writing and storytelling generally. Erin works for the U-M writing center and as an arts editor for the Michigan Daily. After graduation, she hopes to work in editing or publishing—anything that keeps her close to other writers—and to continue her own creative work.

Read Erin’s prize-winning essay, “Ancient Midwives between Binaries.”

Nicole Persad

Nicole is a fourth-year student at the University of Michigan double-majoring in art and design and in art history, with a minor in entrepreneurship. After graduation, she intends to pursue a career in marketing and design or in art direction. Nicole has always loved history since she was little—particularly art and archaeological history—and continues to enjoy learning more about the past through objects and art. Through her own art, Nicole intends to combine the past and the present by learning from and taking inspiration from history to influence what is considered modern.

Read about Nicole’s prize-winning artwork, “Layers of Legacy: Found Objects in Archaeology.”

Left to right: Kelsey Museum Director Nic Terrenato, IPAMAA students Theo Nash and Julian Thibeau, and Kelsey Prize winners Erin Evans and Nicola Persad stand beside the prize display.