The Writing Excellence Awards are given annually to encourage and reward good writing in all disciplines. The contest opens in January each year (for papers written in the previous calendar year for courses taken at the University of Puget Sound). Winners are usually announced in April. The Writing Excellence Awards are funded by the Hearst Endowment for Writing, established through grants from the Hearst Foundation. The submission deadline for this year’s competition is Friday, February 7, 2025.
For the 2025 competition, a total of ten prizes ($250 each) will be awarded for papers written in the 2024 calendar year.
Rules for the Contest
Papers written as part of the requirement for courses taken at the University of Puget Sound during Spring, Summer, or Fall of the previous calendar year are eligible during each round of the competition. Papers of any length may be submitted; short papers are as likely to win as long ones.
Students may submit no more than one paper in each category. The same paper may be submitted to two categories only if one of the categories is the KNOW (Knowledge, Power, and Identity) category.
Questions
If you have any questions about the process or the prizes, please contact Professor Lea Fortmann (lfortmann@pugetsound.edu).