Writing Contests
Freshman English Program coordinates two writing contests for Freshmen Writers: the AETNA Freshman Writing Prize and the Ratfliffe Hicks Writing Prize (established by Ratcliffe Hicks of Tolland, Connecticut, in 1894). Both are awards for excellent non-fiction composed in a Freshman English class. Students are nominated for these competitions by their instructors (instructors can find instructions and a link to the nomination form here).
The 2009 Winners of these contests were:
Ratcliffe Hicks: Marianne Correa, "Living in Blight and Anti-Semites: A Striking Comparison in the Development of Violent City Youth and the Militaristic German Nazi" (Instructor: Lisa Zowada)
Aetna, First Prize: Lisa Ruohoniemi, "History and Heritage: Telling the Story of a Nation Through a Single Soul" (Instructor: Lynn Z. Bloom)
Aetna, Honorable Mention: Janine Johnson, "The Effects of Sexism and Racism in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye" (Instructor, Abbye Meyer)
The 2008 Winners of these contests were:
Ratcliffe Hicks: Leigh Sager, "Are You a Moody Fish?" (Instructor: Sarah Rasher)
Aetna, First Prize: Zack Dorn, "Night of the Living Post-Modernist" (Instructor: Eva Teague)
Aetna, Second Prize: Stephen Corbo, "A Different Type of Panopticon: Fight Club" (Instructor, Kristi Garvin)
Aetna, Third Prize: Kerri Fenton, "Nature and Ecocriticism in Fahrenheit 451" (Instructor: Patricia Taylor)
Aetna, Honorable Mention: Thomas Dimauro, "On My Honor: Narrative of an Eagle Scout" (Instructor, Sean Forbes)
The 2007 Winners of these contests were:
Every fourth year, the essays of the winners of these awards are collected in Essay Connections: Freshman English Prize Essays. Please click on the link for information and essays from Edition IV, which covered 2003-06, and was published in 2008.Ratcliffe Hicks: Angela Yuan and Elizabeth Zhu, "The Philosopher's Elysium" (Instructor Lynn Z. Bloom)
Aetna, First Prize: Lauren Silber, "Forces of Creativity Surpassed for a Greater Purpose" (Instructor, Abbye Meyer)
Aetna, Second Prize: Kerry Smith, "Funding Distribution of the Endangered Species Act" (Instructor, Corey Mahoney)
Aetna, Third Prize: Caitlin Cuskley, "Unearthing a Voice: Releasing the Creativity of the Women of the Past" (Instructor, Abbye Meyer)
Aetna, Honorable Mention: Brian Kelly, "Guernica, Capturing the Essence of War" (Instructor, Trudi Bird)
There are also a number of essay and creative writing competitions available to freshmen and other writers in the University. The Creative Writing Program administers most of these competitions: http://creativewriting.uconn.edu/contests.php