Award Recipients 2020-2021

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

  • First Place: Rachael Haskell ‘22,  for "A Game of Cat and Mouse” (Stylus, Fall 2020)
  • Second Place: Serena Meyers ‘23, for "by falling we learn to go safely" (Stylus, Fall 2020)
  • Third place: Alexa Kirby ‘22, for "July 27, 2020 in the ICU”  (The Otium Review, Spring 2021)

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:

  • Samuel Harmon ‘21

Dever Award for Freshman Writing — for the best essay written by a freshman in any English course:

  • Grace Hone ‘24, for “The Shades of Identity: The Use of Color in Moonlight” (nominated by Nell Wasserstrom)
  • Mary Sarah Olson ‘23, for “Why is Kafala Unknown to Many Americans?” (nominated by Allison Adair)
  • Tinghao (Duncan) Wang ‘24, for “The Only Way of Doing Calligraphy” (nominated by Paula Mathieu)

Doherty Prize for an Exemplary Honors Project (Creative): 

  • Cailin MacQuarrie, for “Falling from the Sky”

Doherty Prize for an Exemplary Honors Project (Critical): 

  • Madeleine Deye, for “Compassion, Being, and Defiance: The Representation of Interdependent Bodies in the Drama of Samuel Beckett”

English Language Learner Essay Award — for the best essay by an English Language Learner written for an ELL section of First Year Writing Seminar or Literature Core:

  • First Place: Yifan (Ricky) Li ‘24, for "Four-Hour Minority” (nominated by Lynne Anderson)
  • Honorable Mention: Yunqi Chen ‘24, for "Interplays of Travel and Identity: Making Peace with Ourselves" (nominated by Brian Zimmerman)

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

Two First Places:

  • Keara Hanlon ‘21, for "What Happens When We Lose Our Heads: The Visual Culture of the Internment of American Japanese During World War II"
  • Anna Goodman ‘21, for "Korean War Brides: Love, Intermarriage and Immigration in a Time of Destruction and Prejudice” (nominated by Christina Klein)
 

Honorable Mentions:

  • Rebecca Shan ‘23, for "COVID-19 in the US and the Increasing Politicization of American Culture: A Digital Archive" (nominated by Lori Harrison-Kahan)

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

  • Emma Farnham ‘21

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

  • First Place: Lexie Slotterback ‘22, for "i kept my grandmother's sewing kit"  (The Laughing Medusa & Stylus, Spring 2021)
  • Second place: Isabella De Palo Garcia Perez ‘21, for "Please Leave a Message After the Beep" (Stylus, Fall 2020)
  • Third place: Ryan Fitzgerald ‘22, for "GALATEA” (Stylus, Fall 2020)

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

  • First Place: Isabella De Palo Garcia Perez ‘21
  • Second Place: Gina Case ‘21
  • Third Place: Gabriel Eshelman ‘21