Students share more than $50,000 in Hopwood creative writing awards

January 5, 2007
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ANN ARBOR—Twenty-two students at the University of Michigan will share more than $42,000 in prizes in the 65th annual Avery and Jule Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing. Another 13 students, including five Hopwood winners, will receive

Funded by a bequest from U-M alumnus and Broadway playwright Avery Hopwood, the awards are given in the essay, fiction (novel and short story), poetry and drama/screenplay categories. They also are divided into a major category for graduate students and a minor category for undergraduates, with seniors having the option to compete in either.

Winners of the Hopwood Awards and other prizes administered by the Hopwood Committee, along with hometowns, include:

MICHIGAN:

ADA—Bich Minh Nguyen, senior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,500 in the Hopwood minor essay category for “The Shape of Your Story” and $1,250 in the Hopwood minor poetry category for “Perihelion.”

ANN ARBOR—Scott Beal, graduate student in English, $2,000 in the Hopwood major poetry category for “If Music”; Carolyn Wells Kraus, graduate student in English and education, $3,500 in the Hopwood major essay category for “Survivors”; John Lofy, graduate student in English, $1,400 for the Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing; Deanne Lundin, graduate student in English,

Sarah Middleton, senior in the College of Engineering, and $500 for the Robert F. Haugh Prize; Margaret Price, graduate student in English, $2,250 in the Hopwood major fiction-short story category for “Where We Settled” and $500 for the Andrea Beauchamp Prize;

Elwood Reid, graduate student in English, $1,250 in the Hopwood major drama/screenplay category for “Labor Day”; David Rothbart, senior in the Residential College, $2,750 in the Hopwood minor essay (special award) category for “The Deer,” Street Station,” and $100 for the Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry for “Bouyancy”;

Ju Kok Tan, senior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,250 in the Hopwood minor drama/screenplay category for “The Last Hour;” and Beth Winsten, graduate student in communication, $2,000 in the Hopwood major drama/screenplay category for “The Black Corset Affair.”

BLOOMFIELD HILLSGordon L. Smith, junior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,100 for the Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Playwriting.

SOUTHFIELDMichael Zilberman, junior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $2,000 in the Hopwood minor drama/screenplay category for “Mercury” and $500 for the Naomi Saferstein Literary Award.

THOMPSONVILLEJeremiah Chamberlin, junior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $2,000 for the Kasdan Scholarship in Creative Writing and $1,000 for the Arthur Miller Award of the U-M Club of New York Scholarship Fund.

TROYCatherine Li-Ming Seto, graduate student in English, “Kissing the Jib.”

OUT-OF-STATE:

CONNECTICUT: NEW CANAANMichael I. Hsu, senior in the Residential College, $1,000 in the Hopwood minor fiction category for “Meat, Tomatoes and Other Stories.”

GEORGIA: PEACHTREE CITYRana M. Jaleel, senior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,800 in the Hopwood minor poetry category for “Bread or The Stick.”

ILLINOIS: DES PLAINESNeela Goshal, freshman in the Residential College, $250 for the Jeffrey L. Weisberg Memorial Prize in Freshman Poetry for “Teatime.”

INDIANA: BLOOMINGTONVal Agostino, junior in the College of Engineering, $1,000 in the Hopwood minor fiction category for “A Tornado Shade of Green.”

MASSACHUSETTS: SPRINGFIELDLesley Kristin Carlin, graduate student in English, $2,000 in the Hopwood major poetry category for “Returning from Troy” and $500 for the Helen S. and John Wagner Prize.

MINNESOTA: ZUMBRO FALLSDouglas John O’Hara, graduate student in English, $1,250 in the Hopwood major drama/ screenplay category for “Love on the Gold Standard.”

NEW JERSEY: SOMERSETYung Kim, graduate student in English, $150 for the Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry for “Compass”; WAYNESteven Petkus, graduate student in English,

NEW YORK: BROOKLYNDavid Allen, graduate student in English, $2,000 in the Hopwood major fiction-novel category for “All Fruits Ripe”; FLUSHINGGregory M. Epstein, freshman in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $150 for the Jeffrey L. Weisberg Memorial Prize in Freshman Poetry for “Sundown’s Crash: 727”; NEW YORKToby L. Bochan, senior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,100 for the Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Playwriting.

OHIO: SHAKER HEIGHTSMichael J. Schwartz, senior in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, $1,000 in the Hopwood minor poetry category for “On a Road Made of Glitter.”

TEXAS: SAN ANTONIOLeah Stewart, graduate student in English, $1,500 in the Hopwood major essay category for “Teenage Wasteland.”

WASHINGTON: SEATTLEMichael Byers, graduate student in English, $2,750 in the Hopwood major fiction-novel category for “The Book of Invasions”; and Paisley Rekdal, graduate student in English, $1,250 in the Hopwood major essay category for “We Do Not Live Here, We Are Only Visitors.”