The Nancy L. Nester Awards for Excellence in Writing

These awards honor achievements in undergraduate writing at ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ.

Award Recipients

2023 Awards Recipients

100 Level

1st Place: Elementary Education: Instilling Knowledge in Future Generations

Briana Carlin

WTNG 102 Honors: How Writing Works, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds

 

2nd Place: My Rhetorical Self

Ryan Alexander

WTNG 100: Introduction to Academic Writing, Prof. Karen Bilotti

 

3rd Place: Entering Freshman Year as a Business Student

Dan Flanagan

Writing 102: How Writing Works, Prof. Beazley Kanost 

 

200 Level

1st Place: Improving Building Sustainability

Kaylee Wimmer

WTNG 225: Writing in Professional and Public Contexts, Prof. Diane Beltran

 

2nd Place: Who is Law School Actually For?

Lily Neves 

WTNG 225: Writing in Professional and Public Contexts, Prof. Jennifer Campbell

 

3rd Place: The Benefit of Implementing a Course Dedicated to Educating Students on Trauma Informed Care

Savannah Aylward

WTNG 225: Writing for Professional and Public Contexts, Prof. Genette Merin

 

300-400 Level

1st Place: Beyond Obsession: Unmasking the Reality of America's Desensitization to the True Crime Genre

Hannah Patalsky

WTNG 322: Advancing Public Argument, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds

 

2nd Place: Why Sports Benefit Students

Adam Horwitz

 

 

3rd Place: Could There Be Fifteen Months in a Year Instead of Twelve?

Payson Mooso

WTNG 302: Art of Writing: Forms of the Essay; Prof. Jennifer Campbell

 

 

2022 Awards Recipients 

100 Level 

Headshot of Lucas Matthews1st Place: Secondary Education/English as a Discourse Community 

Lucas Matthews 

WTNG 102 Honors: How Writing Works, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds 

 

Philip Sughrue 2nd Place: Rhetorical Analysis of the Letter from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights 

Philip Sughrue 

WTNG 100: Introduction to Academic Writing, Prof. Jennifer Campbell 

 

200 Level 

Headshot of Jessica Taddeo1st Place: I Have Decided to Feel Skinny Today: The New-Age Eating Disorder Culture 

Jessica Taddeo 

WTNG 299: Writing About Food, Prof. Paul Bender 

 

Headshot of Richard McGee1st Place: The Real Native American Is Erased from History 

Richard McGee 

WTNG 225: Writing in Professional and Public Contexts, Prof. Genette Merin 

 

300-400 Level 

Headshot of Robert Murphy1st Place: Writing Portfolio: IT Risk Analyst 

Robert Murphy

WTNG 470: Writing Thesis/Portfolio, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds 

 

Headshot of Ainsley Iovanna1st Place: Writing Portfolio 

Ainsley Iovanna

WTNG 470: Writing Thesis/Portfolio, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds 

 

Headshot of Mariam Sanusi2nd Place: Black Americans and the Mental Health Sphere 

Mariam Sanusi 

WTNG 321: Multimodal Writing in Public Spheres 

 

2021 Writing Contest Winners 

100-level  

1st Place: Saving Local Landmarks: A Case Study 

                Marissa Glen
                WTNG 102: How Writing Works, Prof. Brian Hendrickson

1st Place: Finance Discourse Community

                Casey Uryga
                WTNG 102: How Writing Works, Prof. Paul Bender

2nd Place: Final Formal Essay How Writing Works: Different Types of Audiences

                 Shelby Asciolla
                 WTNG 102: How Writing Works, Prof. Fredrika Quinn

200-level

1st Place: Identity Through Godzilla: An Evolving Reflection of Japanese History

                Jaden Militello
                WTNG 230: Rhetoric of Film, Prof. Christian Pulver

2nd Place: New Public Spaces May Not be as Public as You Think
               
                Patrick Mountjoy
                WTNG 225: Writing in Professional and Public Contexts, Prof. Genette Merin

3rd Place: The Importance of Rehabilitation: Education in Prison Systems

                Noah Venuti
                WTNG 220: Critical Writing for the Professions, Prof. Genette Merin

300/400-level

1st Place: We Need to Change How We Talk About Abortion: How Changing the Way We Argue Can Change Minds

               Ainsley Iovanna
               WTNG 322: Advancing Public Argument, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds

2nd Place: The Myth About the Violent/Nonviolent Protest Dichotomy

               Noelle Craveiro
               WTNG 322: Advancing Public Argument, Prof. Dahliani Reynolds

About the Awards

The Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition is currently inviting student submissions and faculty nominations from any WTNG course offered during Spring 2024, Summer 2024, or Fall 2024. All genres are welcome—essays, reports, rhetorical analyses, audio or visual essays, videos, etc.

Winners receive prizes up to $150 and recognition on our website. Winners may also be invited to have their work featured in a forthcoming departmental publication of student work.

Awards will be given in three categories: 100 level, 200 level, and 300-400 level.

Submissions will be judged based upon how well they demonstrate rhetorical, genre, and discourse community knowledge in alignment with the learning outcomes as articulated in general and at each level. (Review Learning Outcomes)

Special recognitions may be awarded to outstanding submissions in the following categories:

  • multimodal submissions that effectively utilize audio, visual, or other modes of communication
  • reflections that demonstrate metacognitive knowledge by engaging deeply with the learning outcomes, especially writing process knowledge

Winners will be selected by a committee of faculty in the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition. Winners will be notified prior to the end of the Spring 2025 semester.

Submission Guidelines for Students:

  • Submissions will be accepted until the end of the day on Friday, February 21, 2025; early submissions are encouraged.
  • The submission portal will ask you to provide some basic information such as name, student ID#, contact information, submission title, course, semester, and instructor.
  • Wherever possible, remove from your submission identifying information such as your name and your instructor’s name. Exceptions include certain multimodal submissions that may be exceedingly difficult or impossible to anonymize.
  • Upload submissions in commonly accessible formats (e.g. Microsoft Office, PDF, WAV and MP3 for audio; MP4 for video). You may provide a link for web-based submissions and files larger than 50MB, but please make sure you double-check that your link is active and permissions are set to allow anyone to view.
  • You may revise your work prior to submission.
  • You are permitted to submit multiple works if you took multiple WTNG courses, although you are limited to one submission from each course. You will need to complete the submission process separately for each submission.
  • You are welcome and encouraged to submit collaborative work, but all coauthors must consent to submitting, and the prize money for any winning collaborative submission will be split evenly among the coauthors.
  • You are welcome and encouraged—but not required—to include a reflection that addresses the course learning outcomes, especially writing process knowledge. Reflections may be used by the awards selection committee to better evaluate your submission within the context in which it was written, and outstanding reflections may be considered separately from the submission for special recognition. You may submit a reflection you already wrote for the course or a new or revised one. While reflections should refrain from mentioning professors by name, they may discuss pertinent details such as the course, assignment, and professor feedback.

Nomination Guidelines for Faculty:

  • Nominations will be accepted until the end of the day on Friday, February 7, 2025.
  • Nominated students will be contacted by the awards selection chair, informed that they have been nominated, and invited to submit.
  • Students are nominated for specific works produced as part of a WTNG course, not in general.
  • You may nominate any number of students from any WTNG course you taught during the 2024 calendar year, you may submit multiple student nominations at the same time, and you may complete the nomination form any number of times, but you will need to complete a new nomination form for different groups of students from different classes and/or semesters. Nominations from sections can be submitted at the same time so long as the course and semester are the same (e.g. all from Spring 2024 WTNG 102).
  • The nomination portal will ask you to provide your name, email, course, semester, student name(s), student email(s), and relevant assignment name(s).

Ready to Submit or Nominate?

Questions?

Contact writingcontest@rwu.edu