Fifteen Daytona State College students will take home top honors and even some cash when the 3rd Annual Outstanding Student Writing Awards for 2012 are presented on Tuesday, April 16, in the Bergengren Building (110), room 112.
The awards ceremony will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. and will include readings from the winning entries, as well as refreshments. No reservations are required and all of the College community is encouraged to attend. First-place winners will receive a certificate and $25 cash from the Daytona State College Foundation. Some first-place winners from 2012 and 2011 will also have their work published in the campus literary magazine, Aeolus, which will be published May 1.
Winners were announced in five categories. Argumentation: Krista Baughman, first place; Alexcia Gilleney, second; and Thomas Croonquist, third. Literature Analysis: Deborah Jones, first; Mark Vost, second; and Long Dinh, third. Poetry: Bruno Leite, first; Megan Rumsey, second; and Deborah Jones, third. Personal Narrative: Johnathon Eva, first; Marjorie Bostwick, second; and Tony Herrington, third; General Research: Katie Lamar, first; Deborah Jones, second; and Mark Romeo, third.
Judging was conducted by faculty members and submissions were coded, so that no one knew who the students or their instructors were. Instructors who had students submitting were not allowed to be judges for that category, said RichardVollaro, chair of the committee overseeing the awards. Other committee members are professors Richard Kraskin, Dr. Joanne Pinkston-McDuffy, Dr. Kathleen Lazarus, Gregg Stone and Jill Clark.
Adjunct professor Dr. Lynn Hawkins reinvigorated the Writing Awards three years ago after a long hiatus.
“Our focus for next year is to add a fiction category. We expanded the awards last year to include poetry and this year we received more, and better, submissions,” Vollaro said. “We got an average of 10 to 15 per category.”
Submissions came from all six campuses and were solicited from all writing classes within the School of Humanities and Communication. Vollaro noted that they even took entries from the developmental writing courses.
Students who think their writing is top-notch should put their paragraphing, paraphrasing and rhymes to the test. They can speak to any of their English instructors about submitting work. All entries are due by Jan. 10 of next year, but don’t hesitate to turn in that winning paper today, instructors say. Submissions are accepted from January to January.