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 guidelines and deadline for this year’s competition will be published later this year.
Results of the competition are announced in April, and award winners in each category will be honored at an academic celebration toward the end of the spring semester. Congratulations to all of the winners!
The award-winning papers from 2025 (written in 2023) are as follows:
First Year Seminar
- Maxwell Swenson, “Diary of the...Morally Grey Years: An Analysis of French Intellectual Collaboration During WWII,” written for SSI2 197 with Prof. Benjamin Tromly
Natural Science and Math
- Liv Hauge, “Evaluation of predation risk using heterospecific and conspecific pheromone signals in eavesdropping honey bee species (Apis dorsata),” written for BIO 472 with Prof. Stacey Weiss
Connections
- Charlotte Levine, “Collective Effervescence within Snake-Handling Pentecostalism,” written for CONN 344 with Prof. Greta Austin
KNOW
- Joshua Ludski-Lee, “Loss of Money or Loss of Life: Overcoming the US Healthcare System,” written for PG 104 with Prof Alissa Kessel
Grad Programs
- Elise Adams, “Insider Perspective: I’m Tired of Chasing a Cure & Incontinence is a Public Health Issue - And We Need to Talk About It,” written for OT 602 with Prof. Aimee Sidhu
Social Science and History
- Albert Chang-Yoo, “A Comparative Look at Street Food Landscapes within a Globalizing Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan,” written for PacRim Independent Research, advised by Prof. Tina Huynh
- Olivia Perez, “Pathways Influencing Adult Outcomes Following Childhood Sexual Abuse,” written for PSYC 401 with Prof. Erin Colbert-White
Humanities
- Tdohasan Sunray, ”The Ground Has Run Amok,” written for ENGL 374 with Prof. Bill Kupinse
- NJ Sarmiento, ”Unwrapping the Layers of Racial Trauma: Exploring Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta’s Candyman (2021),” written for COMM 422 with Prof. Derek Buescher
Departmental writing awards
In addition to the university-wide Writing Excellence Awards, many departments also have departmental writing awards. Students are welcome and encouraged to submit papers to both university-wide and department-specific writing competitions.