Congratulations to the 2021 English Department Award Winners!

by Dalton Greene ’22

As another year winds down here on Old Main 2, the English department is thrilled to announce that the following majors have been selected as recipients for our 2021 End-of-Year awards. All were honored at our annual End-of-Year Celebration, which you can view a recording of here.

The Livingston-Patnode Award is an annual award for a graduating senior who has made a special contribution as an English major throughout their time at Macalester. This year’s winner is Amy Vandervelde, for whom this well-deserved accolade comes after many years acting as a department student worker, English Honor Society officer, and all-around lovely presence in the English department. 

The Wendy Parrish Poetry Award, given to English majors exemplifying a commitment to poetry and excellence in writing, was split between Conor Broderick and Gabriel Fisch. 

The Harry Scherman Writing Contest For Seniors honors senior English majors who present the most outstanding manuscripts in one of three categories: literary analysis, creative prose, and poetry. 

In the literary analysis category, three winners were chosen: Asher de Forest, for his paper “The Scottish Play Horror Film: Close Reading ‘Horrality’ in Two Scenes from Rupert Goold’s Macbeth”; Amy Vandervelde, for “Prophetic Players: How Language Likens Two Kings in Shakespeare’s Richard II”; and Katie Woodhouse, for “What We Talk About When We Talk About Editors: Gordon Lish and Raymond Carver’s Problematic and Prosperous Literary Relationship”.

In the creative prose category, four winners were chosen: Eric Fong, for his short story Garden.exe; Albert Lee, for 知音; Becca Lewis, for The Ringot; and Zarra Marlowe, for three days in inpatient. 

And in the poetry category, one winner was chosen: Conor Broderick, for his poem “Song Poem II.”

The Academy of American Poets College Prize is offered to students for the best three-poem collection and is judged independently by a representative of the Academy of American Poets. The English department selects two poets annually to represent the school in the contest, one winner and one honorable mention.

This year’s honorable mention went to Charlie Pham, for the poems “How to Tell It’s Winter in Vietnamese”; “Month of Legumes, Year of the Ox (or: Cemetery Field Notes)”; and “Ode to Long-time Nuclear Waste Warning Messages.”

This year’s winner was Shelby Kruger, for the poems “There is a Scar on My Father’s Leg”; “Skeleton House”; and “German Apple Strudel.”

The Ardis Hillman Wheeler Prize for International Study, established in honor of Ardis Hillman Wheeler ‘38, who devoted her life to teaching English to refugees after WWII and later in Minnesota public schools, is awarded to majors to support their study abroad experiences in the next academic year. Two recipients were selected: Dalton Greene, who will be studying in England at the University of Oxford, and Anna Sverclova, who will be studying in South Africa at the University of Cape Town. 

The Nick Adams Short Story Contest is sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and honors outstanding short stories by ACM students. Four Macalester students were selected to participate in the ACM-wide contest, which was judged this year by author Sandra Cisneros. These four finalists were Zoelle Collins, for her story Shamuna; Eric Fong, for Garden.exe; Albert Lee, for 知音; and Becca Lewis, for The Vermeer Yeller. 

Congratulations to all of our nominees, finalists, and winners! The English department is so lucky to have been enriched by your contributions over the course of this year, and we’re proud of what each of you have accomplished.