The University Michigan has announced the 2023 graduate and undergraduate winners the Avery and Jule Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing and other writing contests administered by the Hopwood Program.

This year’s contests had 1,005 submissions from 362 people, of which 100 were chosen as winners. The 148 prizes totaled more than $215,000.

An awards ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. April 12 at Rackham Auditorium, 915 E. Washington St. Cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel will give a lecture during the ceremony. She will also give a reading at 5:30 p.m. April 11 in Rackham Amphitheatre. Both events are free and open to the public.

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, Robert Hayden, Jesmyn Ward and Celeste Ng.

This year’s winners and hometowns include:

• Hopwood Drama
  Francisco Fiori, Ann Arbor, for “Tissue Queen”
• Hopwood Screenplay
  Aidan Harris, New Rochelle, New York, for “The Derech”
• Hopwood Novel
  Yueyi Zhao, St. Louis, for “Underspin”
• Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize
  Brian Gyamfi, Grand Prairie, Texas, for “Praxis Breath”
• Hopwood Poetry (First- and Second-Year Undergraduate)
  Allison Wei, Troy, Michigan, for “Fish Head”
• Hopwood Poetry (Undergraduate)
  Jingqi Zhu, Ann Arbor, for “Candle Tears”
  Caroline Knight, Durango, Colorado, for “Rainbow Trout, Mimic”
• Hopwood Poetry (Graduate)
  Sara Abou Rashed, Columbus, Ohio, for “Cycle”
• Hopwood Fiction (First- and Second-Year Undergraduate)
  Lucy Del Deo, New York City, for “Letting Go in the Water”
• Hopwood Fiction (Undergraduate)
  Ashvin Pai, Sterling Heights, Michigan, for “Feeding Rocks”
• Hopwood Fiction (Graduate)
  Zoe Carpenter, Portland, Oregon, for “Teeth” and “Stone Fruit”
• Hopwood Nonfiction (First- and Second-Year Undergraduate)
  Isabela Kellogg, La Jolla, California, for “Confessions Child Who Loved the Learning Channel (Sorry, Mom)”
• Hopwood Nonfiction (Undergraduate)
  Sisir Potluri, Ann Arbor, for “Mountain of Gold” and “Winter”
  Eli Friedman, Wilmette, Illinois, for “A Funny Thing: An Essay Collection”
• Hopwood Nonfiction (Graduate)
  Maia Elsner, Ann Arbor, for “Colors Mourning”

Additional Contests

• Academy American Poets Prize (Graduate Division)
  Diepreye Amanah, Charlotte, North Carolina, for “OF”
• Academy American Poets Prize (Undergraduate Division)
  Yixin Yang, Ann Arbor, for “My mother once said”
• Arthur Miller Award the University Michigan Club New York Scholarship Fund
  Camille Nagy, Oak Park, Michigan, for “Reptilian: A ‘Tail’ Transformation and Rebirth”
• Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize
  A Shaikh, Ann Arbor, for “cento sealed into crushed objecthood”
• Cora Duncan Award in Fiction
  Safura Syed, Troy, Michigan, for “Atoms at the Edge Darkness”
• David Porter Award for Excellence in Journalism
  Ella Kethledge, Novi, Michigan, for “The Phenomenon Social Illness: From Dancing Plagues to Dancing Apps”
• Frank and Gail Beaver Script Writing Prize
  Caroline Maier, Portage, Michigan, for “The Last Goodbye”
• Jeffrey L. Weisberg Memorial Prize in Poetry
  Jessica Hsu, San Jose, California, for “Buried Home”
• Kasdan Scholarship in Creative Writing
  Macy Goller, Ann Arbor, for “King Pearls”
  Tomi Drucker, Kiryat Ekron, Israel, for “Lia’s Lens”
  Azul Cibils Blaquier, Ann Arbor, for “Violet”
• Keith Taylor Excellence in Poetry Award
  Safa Hijazi, Dearborn, Michigan, for “Let Us Get Lost in the Valleys”
• Marjorie Rapaport Award in Poetry
  Yumna Dagher, Dearborn, Michigan, for “When the Angels Left”
  Zora Kwasnik, East Lansing, Michigan, for “Patrick Bateman Embarrasses Himself In Front Tom Cruise NOT CLICKBAIT”
• Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry
  Courtney DuChene, Philadelphia, for “Home Movie, Director’s Cut, and Experimental Film as Burning Haibun”
• Peter Phillip Pratt Award in Fiction
  Jamila Alasady, Dearborn, Michigan, for “Mama, Mama”
• Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship
  Jessica Kwon, Ann Arbor, for “Ghost Stories”
• Text/Image Composition Prize
  Bryce Worthing, Ann Arbor, for “The Shark Below is a Portal; and Other Dream Interpretations”

Additional Awards (these awards and prizes are “add-ons” to Hopwood Award contests)

• Andrea Beauchamp Prize
  Zoe Carpenter, Portland, Oregon, for “Teeth” and “Stone Fruit”
• Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing
  Afsheen Raza Faisal, Ann Arbor, for “Creep,” “Cats,” and “Ladies’ Night”
  Sara Gee for “What They Don’t Tell You” and “The First Six Sessions Are Free”
  Marne Litfin, Ann Arbor, for “Daisies” and “The Steeplechase”
  Oksana Briukhovetska, Kyiv, Ukraine, for “Secrets for Natasha”
• Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Undergraduate Playwriting
  Francisco Fiori, Ann Arbor, for “Tissue Queen”
  Clare Sahijdak, Novi, Michigan, for “The Stranger”
  Donovan Rogers, Southfield, Michigan, for “Into the Light the Dark, Black Night”
  Karis Clark, Kalamazoo, Michigan, for “Kush Man vs. The Man”
  Maeson Linnert, Menlo Park, California, for “Where Orion Went”
• Geoffrey James Gosling Prize
  Yueyi Zhao, St. Louis, for “Underspin”
• Helen J. Daniels Prize
  Sisir Potluri, Ann Arbor, for “Mountain of Gold” and “Winter”
  Eli Friedman, Wilmette, Illinois, for “A Funny Thing: An Essay Collection”
• Helen S. and John Wagner Prize
  Sara Abou Rashed, Columbus, Ohio, for “Cycle”
• John Wagner Prize
  Maia Elsner, Ann Arbor, for “Colors Mourning”
• Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize for Dramatic Writing
  Aidan Harris, New Rochelle, New York, for “The Derech”
  Morgan Kisner, Oak Park, Michigan, for “I’m Not a Bad Person”
  Azul Cibils Blaquier, Ann Arbor, for “Violet”
• Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize for Fiction
  Ashvin Pai, Sterling Heights, Michigan, for “Feeding Rocks”
  Jessica Kwon, Ann Arbor, for “Ghost Stories” and “Episodes”
  Nina Smith, Berkeley, California, for “God and Walter Cronkite” and “Strange Music”
• Meader Family Award
  Claudia Creed, Ludlow, SPE, for “Girl becomes a raven becomes a crow”
  Amanda Hayes, Arlington, Virginia, for “Cnidaria”
  Courtney DuChene, Philadelphia, for “Graduate Poetry Prize Submission”
• Naomi Saferstein Literary Award
  Aidan Harris, New Rochelle, New York, for “The Derech”
• Paul and Sonia Handleman Award
  Jingqi Zhu, Ann Arbor, for “Candle Tears”
  Caroline Knight, Durango, Colorado, for “Rainbow Trout, Mimic”
• Robert F. Haugh Prize
  Ashvin Pai, Sterling Heights, Michigan, for “Feeding Rocks”
• Roy and Helen Meador Award
  Allison Wei, Troy, Michigan, for “Fish Head”
• Stanley S. Schwartz Prize
  Jessica Kwon, Ann Arbor, for “Ghost Stories” and “Episodes”