Each year, University of Michigan faculty are invited to nominate outstanding written work produced by students in their First-Year and Upper-Level writing courses for consideration for Undergraduate Writing Prizes. Once nominated, winners are then selected by the Writing Prize committee consisting of Sweetland Center for Writing and ULWR faculty. This exceptional winning work is compiled and printed in the form of the "Excellence in First-Year Writing" and "Excellence in Upper-Level Writing" prize books (also available for download on our Writing Prizes page after April 18th).

This year's winners will be honored at our Writing Prize ceremony Wednesday, April 22nd.

First-Year Writing Prizes

Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing

Grace Brown, “An Open Letter to Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League: Concerning Your Editorial on the Equality Act”
Nominated by Genta Nishku, COMPLIT 122 

Jackson Mott, “Life Sucks, And Then You Die”
Nominated by Cat Cassel, LSWA 125

Excellence in Multilingual Writing

Hao Chen, “Reasons for Digital Piracy Behavior and Strategies to Stop It”
Nominated by Allison Piippo, WRITING 120

Kyungrae Lee, “Do Not Take Anything Slightly”
Nominated by Scott Beal, WRITING 120

Excellence in the Practice of Writing

Alyssa Huang, “Huángruìxīn”
Nominated by Gina Brandolino, WRITING 100

Dallas Witbeck, “I am a Twig in a Nature of Drawing: The Story of Finding my Major”
Nominated by Hannah Webster, WRITING 100

Upper-Level Writing Prizes

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Social Sciences)

Max Steinbaum, “D.C. Dog Fight:  Principle and Pragmatism of the Bush-era Supreme Court”
Nominated by Jacob Walden, POLSCI 319: Politics of Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Maryellen Zbrozek, “The Plastic Problem: What are Scientists doing to Reduce their Environmental Footprint?”
Nominated by Julie Halpert, ENVIRON 320: Environmental Journalism - Reporting about Science, Policy and Public Health

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Sciences)

Alice Sorel, “Cerebral Organoids: Promising New Window into Neurodevelopment”
Nominated by Jimmy Brancho, WRITING 400: Writing and Research in the Sciences

Franco Tavella, “Gene editing for the 21st century: CRISPR/Cas9 and Prime Editing”
Nominated by Qiong Yang, BIOPHYS 450/550: Intro to Biophysics Laboratory

Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Humanities)

Jinan Abufarha, “عنوان” 
Nominated by Christine Modey, WRITING 300: Seminar in Peer Writing Consultation

Davis Boos, “A Second Exile: Mario Benedetti’s Absence in English”
Nominated by Marlon James Sales, COMPLIT 322: Translated Wor(l)ds