Essay Contest Submissions Due by May 3

Students are encouraged to turn their prose into profit by entering English department's annual essay contest. Students who submitted an essay during 2020 are asked to resubmit to make sure their entries are included. The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. on May 3, 2021.

Entrants are eligible to compete for cash awards and publication in the 2020-2021 edition of Winning Essays. This publication becomes part of the Kalamazoo Valley library’s permanent collection. Entries should be essays written in English 098, 099, 110, 111, and 160, and in any 200-level English literature class. Winners will be notified by mail during the summer of 2021 as soon as the judges have made their decisions.

The Ron Miazga Memorial Award for Descriptive Writing, a category introduced in the 2012-2013 essay contest, will be part of this year’s competition as well. The $150 award for this category’s winner will recognize the essay or short fiction piece that best captures a sense of place. The winner should demonstrate effective descriptive writing, which includes such elements as specific detail, figurative language, and an appeal to multiple senses. Freshness, vividness, and inventiveness in language that put the reader in the place the writer has experienced or imagined is critical to this effort.

Essays entered in this category should have been written in English 110, 111, 160, or 220 during the summer and fall of 2020 and the winter of 2021.

The official entry form is available below.

Download Entry Form