The Department continues its annual tradition of selecting among hundreds of nominees the best undergraduate English Majors for its prestigious prizes. This year the selection was particularly large and therefore strongly competitive. The categories for which our talented and distinguished undergraduate majors were competing included: Senior Awards, Junior Awards, Sophomore Awards, Honors Awards, All Levels, Scholarships and Writing Contests. And here are the winners:

• Kathleen Blackwood receives The Merrill G. Christophersen Scholars Award for exceptional scholastic achievement by an outstanding senior English major.
• Belvin Olasov receives The Cary K. Smith, Jr. Award for the highest qualities of leadership, scholarship, and outstanding scholastic achievement demonstrated by a senior English major.
• Presley Gilder, Elizabeth Matthews, Rebecca Steptoe and Sarkis Zoubian receive a Distinguished Senior Award for exceptional scholastic achievement by English majors.
• Kathleen Maris, Madison King, Brady Nash and Davin Hylton are the recipients of this year’s Distinguished Junior Award.
• Caroline Fairey and Christiana Olbrych receive The George Walker Waring Award for sophomore students who demonstrated an exceptional ability for the study of English. 
• Hannah Ekeh receives The John K. Hoey Honors Scholarship Award for exceptional scholastic achievement by an Honors English major.
• Hannah Perry, Hannah Quire, and Sarah Zurlo receive a N. Gordon Belser Scholarship for outstanding scholastic achievement, based on faculty recommendations and grade point average, by junior English majors.
• Fiona McMahon receives The Peter Mackey Scholarship Award for exceptional scholastic achievement by a junior English major with a cognate in Religion, and with a GPA greater than or equal to 3.0.
• Rachel Klink and Athena Marousis receive a Polston Scholarship Award for outstanding scholastic achievement by junior English majors, based on faculty recommendations and grade point average.
• Kerri Simmons receives this year’s Heide Hilburn Poetry Award, announced at the annual English Undergraduate Conference INK!
• Deborah Clark wins the J. S. Reynolds Essay Contest Award.
• Belvin Olasov wins the Havilah Babcock Poetry Contest Award and Havilah Babcock Short Story Contest Award.

The faculty of the English Department congratulates the winners of this year’s prestigious Awards and Scholarships.