Earlier this month, the Department of English presented its annual English Awards at the first in-person reception – held in the Schulich Executive Learning Centre dining room – since before the pandemic.

Each year the department offers seven prizes and scholarships, as well as recognition for outstanding essays written in courses offered at the 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 levels. The awards acknowledge writing covering a range of areas – including Canadian Literature, English literature from 1660-1800, Women in Literature and more – and many are accompanied with scholarships honouring former faculty members.

Several winners produced work that reflected students’, and the University’s, ongoing efforts to pursue progressive new ways of thinking about culture and the world. For example, student Tia Buckeridge won the Best 1000-level Essay Prize for her essay, “Poke the Bear: Deconstructing Hegemonic Culture and Gender Norms in Satire.” The Avie Bennet Prize in Canadian Literature went to Sebastian Fess, for looking closely at Canadian works by poet E.J. Pratt and novelist Michael Ondaatje with the essay titled, “The Cost of Building a Nation: The Representation of Immigrant Workers in ‘Towards the Last Spike’ and In the Skin of a Lion.”

Other students recognized for their work were:

Best 2000-level Essay Prize
Lisa Sterrett for “A Postmodern Caribbean Commodity”

Best 3000-level Essay Prize
Kirandeep Bhanot for “Man vs. The Horrors of Nature in Green Romanticism: ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ vs. ‘Darkness'”

Best 4000-level Essay Prize
Vanessa Spagnuolo for “‘I’m sorry. Me too.’: The Disruption of Oppression in Harlem Duet and its Predecessor”

The Brian Hepworth Memorial Prize
Adrian Grek for “The Unbearable Weight of Huffing Opinions About the Mind-Brain Problem”

The Department of English Retirees’ Scholarship
Jelem Cuary; Jordan Gionet

The Elizabeth Sabiston Prize
Zoe Kavouris for “‘am I not a gracious proof’: Manipulating Constructions of Femininity in ‘The Defence of Guenevere'”

The H.K. Girling Literature Prize
Tiger Thompson-Davidson for “Oedipus Rex: Monarchical Exploitation and Contemporary Class Struggle”

The June McMaster-Harrison Memorial Prize
Robert Candoni for “After Arthur: An Attempt at Describing a Post-Arthurian Text”

The Lucille Herbert Memorial Scholarship
Abbie Mauno; Kaila Gallacher

The Matthew Ahern Memorial Prize
Caio Popovic

The Stephanie Stavro Scholarship in English
John Batista

The TA Award for Excellence in Teaching
Maybelle Leung

Originally published in YFile.