English Department Essay Contest for 2023-2024

Students enrolled in English classes are invited to turn their prose into profit and get published by entering their essays in the Kalamazoo Valley Community College annual essay contest to be eligible to compete for cash awards and publication in the 2023-2024 edition of Winning Essays, which will appear online. This publication becomes part of the college 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 2024 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 2023 and the winter of 2024.

This memo will be sent out again in April of 2024, but students who may not be taking an English class - or may not be on campus - in the winter term of 2024, may submit essays by December 18 of this semester if they wish to do so.

The official entry form follows: Click Here