Creative writing Hopwood Award winners announced

May 5, 2020
Written By:
Jared Wadley
Contact:

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan announced the 2020 graduate and undergraduate winners of the Avery and Jule Hopwood Awards and other writing contests administered by the Hopwood Program.

A total of $202,450 was given to the winners of 73 separate awards.

The Hopwood Awards are funded by a bequest from Avery Hopwood, a 1905 graduate and successful Broadway playwright, and Jule Hopwood, his mother. Past winners include Arthur Miller, Frank O’Hara, John Ciardi and Marge Piercy.

This year’s winners include:

Hopwood Drama

  • Zoha Bharwani, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., “Displace,” $4,500.
  • Annesha Mitha, Richmond, Va., “Bangla Class,” $4,500.
  • Drew Allyn Metcalf, Southfield, Mich., “No More Monsters,” $2,000.
  • Zahir Janmohamed, Sacramento, Calif., “Weiser Hall,” $2,000.

Hopwood Novel

  • Annesha Mitha, Richmond, Va., “Every Other Universe,” $5,300.
  • Dur e Aziz Amna, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, “Consumed,” $4,300.
  • Cherline Bazile, Spring Hill, Fla., “The Delaroses,” $4,000.
  • Catalina Bode, Aurora, Ill., “Cardinal in the Dogwood,” $3,500.
  • Ariel Everitt, Hale, Mich., “Dinner Party,” $1,500.

Hopwood Screenplay

  • Veronica Slaven, Wyandotte, Mich., “The Cul De Sac Mob,” $6,650.
  • Emma Puglia, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. “Waters of March,” $4,000.
  • Grace Kay, Clarkston, Mich., “Stolen Slippers,” $4,000.

Hopwood Undergraduate Nonfiction

  • Lia Baldori, Okemos, Mich., “Mating Wounds,” $4,000.
  • Elena Ramirez-Gorski, Adrian, Mich., “Garmonbozia,” $3,500.
  • Jena Vallina, Romeoville, Ill., “Love in the Time of Global Warming,” $3,300.
  • Jenna Barlage, Ann Arbor, “Dreamland,” $3,000.

Hopwood Graduate Nonfiction

  • Dur e Aziz Amna, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, “Check(list) Your Privilege,” $4,300.
  • Drew Nelles, Guelph, Ontario, “The Manor,” $4,000.
  • Catalina Bode, Aurora, Ill., “Whale Song,” $3,000.
  • Kashona Notah, San Bernardino, Calif., “Charlie,” “Shadows and Dust,” “The Jump,” and “Tell Me About Your Writing,” $2,000.
  • Cherline Bazile, Spring Hill, Fla., “Ti zwazo,” $1,500.
  • Carlina Duan, Ann Arbor, “Liquid Moment,” $1,500.

Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction

  • Hussein Alkadhim, Dearborn, Mich., “OneLastMidnightV2,” $6,300.
  • Arman Haveric, Hinsdale, Ill., “Sativum,” $6,000.
  • Miriam Francisco, Ann Arbor, “Two Stories,” $4,500.

Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction

  • Annesha Mitha, Richmond, Va., “In Search of a Better Ending” and “Valedictorian,” $5,500.
  • Maya Dobjensky, Albany, Calif., “Two Stories: The Floating House & Cicada Season,” $3,800.
  • Connor Greer, Rochester, N.Y., “Fertility Treatments” and “Old Tale,” $3,500.
  • Sofia Ergas Groopman, New York, “How a Daughter has Slept,” $3,300.

Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry

  • Dylan Gilbert, Ann Arbor, “don’t dwell on me,” $6,500.
  • Kitty Wilcox, Berrien Center, Mich., “The Oddball Effect,” $6,300.
  • Nora Hilgart-Griff, Kalamazoo, Mich., “a yell; a breath,” $3,500.
  • Kennedi Killips, Scottville, Mich., “Tender,” $1,500.
  • Brooks K. Eisenbise, Kalamazoo, Mich., “Fading Forward,” $1,500.

Hopwood Graduate Poetry

  • Michael M. Weinstein, Boston, Mass., “The Center,” $6,000.
  • David Freeman, Long Lake, Minn., “Deer Teeth,” $5,500.
  • Monica Rico, Saginaw, Mich., “The Opposite of Cortés Burning the Aviaries,” $4,000.

Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize for the Long Poem or Poetic Sequence

  • Carlina Duan, Ann Arbor, “Alien Miss,” $5,500.

 

Other Contests Administered by the Hopwood Program

The Andrea Beauchamp Prize

  • Annesha Mitha, Richmond, Va., “In Search of a Better Ending” and “Valedictorian,” $1,100.

The Frank and Gail Beaver Scriptwriting Prize

  • Seth Andrews, Edwardsburg, Mich., “Dropouts,” $1,450.

The Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing

  • Nishanth Injam, Telangana, India, “Come with Me” & “Summers of Waiting,” $2,000.
  • Drew Nelles, Guelph, Ontario for “The List” and “Big Cats,” $900.
  • Cherline Bazile, Spring Hill, Fla., “Tender,” $600.

The Helen J. Daniels Prize

  • Lia Baldori, Okemos, Mich., “Mating Wounds,” $1,700.
  • Elena Ramirez-Gorski, Adrian, Mich., “Garmonbozia,” $1,700.

The Geoffrey James Gosling Prize

  • Annesha Mitha, Richmond, Virginia, “Every Other Universe,” $900.

The Paul and Sonia Handleman Poetry Award

  • Kitty Wilcox, Berrien Center, Mich., “The Oddball Effect,” $3,200.

The Robert F. Haugh Prize

  • Hussein Alkadhim, Dearborn, Mich., “OneLastMidnightV2,” $3,100

The Kasdan Scholarship in Writing

  • Nicholas Grant, Dexter, Mich., “Presumed Dead,” $8,000.

The Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Undergraduate Playwriting

  • Zoha Bharwani, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., “Displace,” $3,750.
  • Drew Allyn Metcalf, Southfield, Mich., “No More Monsters,” $3,250.
  • Seth Andrews, Edwardsburg, Mich., “Pill Bug,” $1,500.

The Meader Family Award

  • Mary Spooner, Jackson, Miss., “All My Horses,” $3,200.
  • Kassy Lee, San Diego, “Descent of Inana,” $1,200.
  • Ian Burnette, Ann Arbor, “Possible Gods,” $1,200.
  • Zahir Janmohamed, Sacramento, Calif., “Special,” $1,200.

The Arthur Miller Award of the University of Michigan Club of New York Scholarship Fund

  • Dawn M. Isby, Westland, Mich., “The Shaping,” $2,500.

The Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize in Dramatic Writing

  • Masha Chernitska, Ann Arbor, “Little Angel,” $2,500.
  • Hayley Tibbenham, West Bloomfield, Mich., “Salamander Six,” $2,500.
  • Nicholas Grant, Dexter, Mich., “Presumed Dead,” $2,500.
  • Seth Andrews, Edwardsburg, Mich., “Hell Planet,” $2,500.

The Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize in Fiction

  • Eli Gail Rallo, Fair Haven, N.J., “Coming of Age,” $2,500.
  • R.A. Wyeth, South Lyon, Mich., “The Young Gods Loiter,” $2,500.
  • Meghan Chou, Ann Arbor, “Sub Rosa, In the Space Above,” $2,500.
  • Elena Ramirez-Gorski, Adrian, Mich., “El peregrinaje,” $2,500.

The Helen S. and John Wagner Prize

  • Michael M. Weinstein, Boston, Mass., “The Center,” $1,100.

The John Wagner Prize

  • Dur e Aziz Amna, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, “Check(list) Your Privilege,” $1,100.
  • Arman Haveric, Hinsdale, Ill., “Sativum,” $650.

The Naomi Saferstein Literary Award

  • Veronica Slaven, Wyandotte, Mich., “The Cul De Sac Mob,” $1400.

The Cora Duncan Award in Fiction

  • Elena Ramirez-Gorski, Adrian, Mich., “Deadwater,” $800.

The Peter Phillip Pratt Award in Fiction

  • Monica Kim, Englewood, N.J. “What the Crow Knows,” $800.

The Keith Taylor Excellence in Poetry Award

  • Kendall Billig, Brighton, Mich., “Verge,” $600.

The David Porter Award for Excellence in Journalism

  • Drew Nelles, Guelph, Ontario, “The Manor,” $1,000.