Department Awards

The Department of English annually grants awards and scholarships to undergraduate English majors and to graduate English and Writing students who have demonstrated academic excellence. The awards process culminates each spring in the Nina Mae Kellogg Awards Ceremony, where we come together as a department to celebrate our award contestants and winners. See the 2009 Kellogg Award winners.

We encourage you to read through the list below (and to encourage your classmates to do the same), and begin to review your current work – essays, poems, stories, news articles, creative nonfiction – for submission.

The John Redman Freshman Writing Award Awarded for a piece of writing completed as a regular course assignment by a PSU freshman student. The Tom and Phyllis Burnam Awards Recognizes the best work written by students in a writing course in the following areas: Undergraduate Fiction; Undergraduate Poetry; Graduate Fiction; Graduate Poetry. The Burnam Nonfiction Award Awarded to one undergraduate student for a piece of nonfiction prose written in a writing class. The Frank Andrew Clarke and Helen Clarke Memorial Award Awarded to an undergraduate for a work of excellence submitted as a regular course assignment. The Academy of American Poets Award Presented for the best poem or group of poems submitted by a student. Winning poems may be selected for publication by the Academy. The Wilma Morrison Award Presented by the University Publications Board for outstanding writing in The Vanguard student newspaper. The Giving Back Fellowship Awarded to a second-year student in the graduate nonfiction writing program based on a writing sample, general achievement, and need. The Nina Mae Kellogg Award Provides substantial cash prizes for outstanding sophomore and senior students. Invitations to compete for the award are issued after an initial examination of grade point averages. The senior award is limited to English majors; the sophomore is open to all majors who demonstrate proficiency in writing. The Philip Ford Graduate Award Honors the best piece of original scholarship or criticism written for graduate credit in an English course. The Tom Doulis Graduate Fiction Writing Awards Awarded for a work of fiction by a student enrolled in a graduate-level fiction writing course. The Shelley Reece Award in Poetry Given to a graduate student of English who is interested in pursuing a career in the field of writing. The recipient must have completed a minimum of one year of coursework at PSU and will be selected for their achievements, interest and talent in the field of poetry writing, as well as demonstrated financial need. The Tom Bates Awards in Nonfiction Writing Given to students enrolled in the M.A. in Writing program whose work shows excellence and commitment. Awards are given in the following areas: Memoir, Essay Writing, and Reporting (newspaper or magazine writing). The Marilyn Folkestad Scholarship Awarded to an undergraduate woman who is returning to school and wishes to pursue a career in literature and creative writing. Candidates are required to demonstrate academic promise and creative writing talent.