1010	1020	2201	2202
1st Place: Na’Zia Faison	1st Place: Kathleen Zyra D. Layupan	1st Place: Hannah Ruth Hammadi	1st Place: Shateria Nashea Conley
2nd Place: Silvia YuneysiGuandique Reyes	2nd Place: Derrick Dewayne Wilson	2nd Place: Karlee D. Baxter	2nd Place: Amarria’ Jyneece Golden
3rd Place: Shira Tabib Tsivony	3rd Place: Princeton Osei-Yeboah	3rd Place: Emma Nicole Larson	3rd Place: n/a

Joseph and June Riley Essay Contest

1st Place: Zared Lopez Crisostomo, “The Market”
2nd Place: Zach Tarr, "The Rules of Play: Structure, Nothingness, and Postmodern Meaning"
3rd Place: Theo J. Van Joolen, “Reflections on West 139th Street: Harlem Modernity and its Discontents in Dorothy West's ‘Cook’ and Zora Neale Hurston's ‘The Back Room’"

Awards and Scholarships

Children's Literature Award
1st place: Connor Schile
2nd place: Lillianna Grisanti
3rd place: Kaitlyn Jackson
Honorable Mention: Owen Langston

MidSouth Society for Technical Communication Scholarship: Rioha Iqbal
Emalie Appleton Brooks Memorial Scholarship: Jenna Demmons
Elizabeth Phillips Scholarship: Roiha Iqbal, Gracie Driver, & Brooklyn Rush
Department of English Distinguished Scholarship Award: Hartlie Jones

Undergraduate Theses

Bee Wade, "Mississippi God-Damned: Poetry & Prose"

Graduate Awards

Concentration Awards

African American Literature: Sheronda Gipson-Marion
Applied Linguistics: Ifeoluwa Awopetu
Creative Writing Fiction: Marilyn Jackson
Creative Writing Non-Fiction: Baylee Less
Creative Writing Poetry: Gloria Odary
Creative Writing Service Award: Bethany Rose Datuin & Laura Isaacs
Literature: Julia Creson
Teresa Dalle TESOL Prize: Jannatul Ferdaous
Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication: Alexandra Russell

Awards, Fellowships, and Scholarships

Rebecca Argall Award for Graduate Student Teaching Excellence: Monique Bain
Dr. Reginald Matrin Teaching Award: Samantha Williams
Dr. Lawrence and Sarah Wynn English Fellowship: Noah Randolph
Dr. Lawrence and Sarah Wynn English Scholarship: Noah Randolph
William and Martha Donigan Department of English Graduate Scholarship: Ghadi Matouq
Ruth and Henry Loeb Scharff Scholarship: Korbyn Peebles, KM Jubair Uddin, Abdulwahab Alshehri, Catherine Solomon, & Huda Saleem
Eugenia & Fred P. Gattas Scholarship Fund: Pejman Javanmardi and Tek Chhetry
Joe Orgill Fellowship in English: Ifeoluwa Awopetu & Samantha Williams
Outstanding Graduate Student Award: Hana Alqabba
Department of English Service Award: Ifeoluwa Awopetu

More Info

English Department Awards Day 2026

English Department Awards Archive

Undergraduate Awards