University Faculty for Life Scholarly Achievement in English Studies Award Winners

Students interested in participating in these annual awards should read the guidelines posted here.


2013
First place (Literary Criticism): Rev. Mr. Brandon P. O'Brien (St. Joseph's Seminary, Yonkers) for his essay, "Violence and Strife in the City: Discerning Life-affirming Themes in Cormac McCarthy’s Postmillennial Novels."
Second place (Literary Criticism): Emily Hurd (University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota) for her essay, "Crime and Punishment: Understanding the Value of the Human Person."
Third place (Research): Sharon Ngai (Redeemer University College, Canada) for her essay, "Euthanasia: A License to Kill."
Honorable mentions: Emily Hurd (University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota) for her creative writing piece, "They Said It Would Be Easy"; and Samantha Stempky (University of Notre Dame) for her research essay, "Sexuality, Freedom, and Truth."

2012
Christina Serena (University of Notre Dame) won the prize in the Research category for her paper "The Catholic Church v. the State: Analyzing the Constitutionality and Legality of the HHS Mandate." The winner in the Creative Writing category was Alexandra Scholldorf (an MFA student at Stony Brook) for her poem "Kept." The following students received honorable mention: Clare Myers (Univ. of Dallas) for her essay "A Pink Cow and a Road Trip: March for Life 2012," Jennifer Sandoval (Molloy College) for her poem "Giving Me Life," and Margaret Skoch (University of Notre Dame) for her poem "Premature Account of Life and Death."

2011


2010
Michelle J. Lockett (Immaculata University, Immaculata, PA) won first prize for her poem "Sleepy Time Night-Night Snuggle-Snouts." Jiaxi Mai (Bethany Lutheran College, China) earned honorable mention for her short story, "Nu’er: Daughters." Both submissions were considered for the Creative Writing category.

2009
Darielle Bertossi (Molloy College) won first place for her Critical Research paper on abortion: "Using the Hub of Moral Reality." The honorable mention goes to Emily Kebodeaux (Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas) for her essay "Abortion: A Constitutional Right?" Both essay winners were submitted in the Research category.

2008
Mary Anne McElroy (Loyola College, Baltimore) won for her essay "Killing Birmingham’s Babies: the Racist Origins of America’s Pro-Choice Movement" in the Research category. Honorable mentions go to Nkendia C. Brown (Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York) for her essay "Genocide, America’s Dark Secret" and Lauren Wilson (Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida) for her essay "Roe v. Wade."

2007
No entries received.

2006
Kelly Pedagna (Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY; Education/History) won honorable mention for her paper: "Euthanasia, Eugenics, and Brave New World."

2005
First place: Erin Bartels for her paper "’Nothing . . . consoled, nothing concealed’: Abortion as Dual Death in Yvonne Vera’s Butterfly Burning." Erin is a first-year M.A. student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Second place: Theresa Russ for her paper "Adult Stem Cells: The Potential and Promise of Progenitor Cells." Theresa is enrolled simultaneously in three schools: the Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California; the University of the State of New York Excelsior College; and the University of California, Santa Barbara).
Third place: Cullen Bower for his paper, "Treatment of the Disabled." Cullen is a post-secondary student taking courses at Clark State Community College (Springfield, Ohio).

2004
Cecilia Ollhoff, a student at Clark State Community College (Springfield, Ohio) , received an honorable mention award for her essay submission.