Undergraduate Award Recipients

2024–2025


Cardinal Cushing Award — for the best fiction published in a BC undergraduate publication:

  • First Place: Pamela Zhou ’25, for “A look back at the 2010 Girl Scout’s Valentine’s Day Dance” (Laughing Medusa, Spring 2025)
  • Second Place: Eva Nahas ’25, for “Realizing the Doctors Were Right When They Said You Have Major Depressive Disorder” (Laughing Medusa, Fall 2024)
  • Third Place: Rachel Herschbein ’26, for “Three Grapefruits” (Stylus, Fall 2024)

Dever Fellowship — a substantial grant presented in honor of novelist and BC alumnus Joseph Dever, to a graduating senior who proposes to pursue a career in writing:

  • Morgan Santaguida ’25

Dever Award for Freshman Writing — For the best three essays by first year students in a Spring 2024 or AY ‘24-25 English course (three first prizes): 

  • Olivia Luyando ’28, for “The Instability of Literary Absences” [Best Essay: Critical] (nominated by: James Smith)
  • Quynh Anh Le ’28, for “No Cuntry For Wo-Men” [Best Essay: Journalism/Cultural Studies] (nominated by: Lauren Wilwerding)
  • Kendra Preval ’27, for “Shedding” [Best Essay: Personal Narrative] (nominated by: Shelley Linso)

Doherty Prize for an Exemplary Honors Project (Creative): 

  • Eva Nahas ’25, “She Dances Anyway” (poetry)

Doherty Prize for an Exemplary Honors Project (Critical): 

  • Annie Li ’25, “Captive Life: Thematics of Action, Law, and Guilt”

Multilingual Learners Essay Award — For the best essay by a Multilingual Learner written for an ELL section of First Year Writing Seminar or Literature Core

  • Winner: Ziqi (Kiana) Liu ’28, for “Inland Coastal Kids” (nominated by: Alex Puente)
  • Honorable Mention: Tairine Baptista Lima ’28, for “Born To Be in the Waters” (Amanda Labriola)

John Randall Award — For the best undergraduate essay on American literature and culture, presented in honor and memory of author and BC Professor John Randall

  • Winner: Morgan Santaguida ’25, “Excerpt from Senior Honors Thesis, ‘With Waves, We Fall’”
  • Honorable Mention: Ella Champagne ’27, “‘The Hill We Climb’: Gorman’s Call to Confront America’s Past for a Better Future”
  • Honorable Mention: Olivia Crocker ’26, “Women in College Sports: The Lasting Outcomes of Title IX and the Barriers that Still Persist” (nominated by: Vincent Portillo)

William A. Kean Memorial Award — to the graduating senior judged to be the outstanding English major:

  • Anastasia Prussakova ’25

Bishop Kelleher Award — for the best poetry published in a BC undergraduate publication:

  • First Place: Grace Hepburn ’27, “Elephants Never Forget” (Laughing Medusa, Spring 2025)
  • Second place: Jessica Hwang ’28, “Inheritance” (Medical Humanities Journal, Spring 2025, Stylus, Spring 2025)
  • Third Place: Olivia Emerick ’25, “Persephone’s Hairbrush” (Stylus Fall 2024, Laughing Medusa, Spring 2025)

Dennis A. McCarthy Award — for the best collection of creative writing by a junior or senior:

  • First Place: Wyatt Seder-Burnaford ’25
  • Second Place: Eva Nahas ’25
  • Third Place: Olivia Emerick ’25
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