Writing Prizes

Nominations

Each year, instructors who have taught intermediate and advanced-level courses are invited to nominate their outstanding students who are then asked to submit 10-20 pages for consideration.

The semi-finalists and finalists are determined by selected Writers’ Program instructors, and the winner is determined by Andrew Morse, the prize’s benefactor. The three finalists, who are named in the fall, receive cash prizes ($3,000 First Place, $2,000 Second Place, and $1,000 Third Place) and are honored at a luncheon attended by Mr. Morse, the nominating instructors, judges, and Writers’ Program staff.

Nominations

Instructors who have taught intermediate and advanced-level novel, memoir, and book-length creative nonfiction courses are invited to nominate up to two outstanding students who meet eligibility criteria. In order to be considered, nominees submit 25 pages of their work-in-progress, an outline of their work, and a current resume.

The finalists are determined by selected Writers’ Program instructors, and the final recipient is selected by the prize’s benefactors. The recipient, who is named in June of each year, receives a cash prize of $5,000 and is honored at a luncheon hosted by the benefactors. The two runners-up are given vouchers for a complimentary full-length Writers’ Program course.

Nominees for each year’s competition are contacted by the Writers’ Program and an application packet is forwarded. Completed materials are submitted in February for judging.

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To convey a sense of Allegra Johnson’s literary voice, here is one of her poems:

Selfish Beauty

by Allegra Johnson

i can’t leave my orchid
outside my motel room door,
even though I know
it probably aches for direct sunlight,
warmer and more intimate than the light
filtered through dingy screen windows.
somebody would probably break off
the main stalk
of yellow and pink-tinged blossoms,
yawning like rare dragons.
maybe even the stalk of buds,
yet to make their grand entrance,
snapped off they would be dead,
nothing but unfulfilled promise.

there is always someone
who isn’t content to just appreciate
the blooms in their living, growing state,
who has to take
all of the beauty for himself.