Each year, University of Michigan faculty are invited to nominate outstanding written work produced by students in their First-Year and Upper-Level writing courses for consideration for Undergraduate Writing Prizes. Once nominated, winners are then selected by the Writing Prize committee consisting of Sweetland Center for Writing and ULWR faculty. This exceptional winning work is compiled and printed in the form of the "Excellence in First-Year Writing" and "Excellence in Upper-Level Writing" prize books (also available for download on our Writing Prizes page after April 19th).

This year's winners will be honored at our Writing Prize ceremony Tuesday, April 19th.

First-Year Writing Prizes

Matt Kelley/Granader Family Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing

Thomas Aiello "Challenging Media Representations of the Global Refugee Crisis"
nominated by Robyn D'Avignon, History 195

Caroline Rothrock "Walking into Eternity along Sandymount Strand: Regarding the Importance of Walking in the Works of James Joyce"
nominated by Karein Goertz, RC 100

Granader Family Prize for Excellence in Multilingual Writing

Hyunju Lee "What Can You Do on Your Own?"
nominated by Scott Beal, Writing 120

Ran Ming "Females in STEM Need a Stronger Voice"
nominated by Jing Xia, Writing 120

Granader Family Prize for Outstanding Writing Portfolio

Jaelyn Jennings https://jaejenn.wordpress.com/
nominated by Gina Brandolino, Writing 100

Alexis Low https://alexisclow.wordpress.com/
nominated by Julie Babcock, Writing 100

Upper-Level Writing Prizes

Granader Family Prize for Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Social Sciences)

Sonia Tagari "Drought in California as a Continuation of High Modernism,Utilitarianism and Social Inequality"
nominated by Omolade Adunbi, AAS322/Environ 335

Nicole Vozar "A Comparison of Elite Egyptian and Roman Tombs"
nominated by Robin Beck (Travis Williams GSI), ANTHRARC 386

Granader Family Prize for Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Sciences)

Ryan Levy "A Survey of Radioactivity Experiments"
nominated by Hui Deng, Physics 441

Alexandra Peirce "How Universities are Trying to Prevent LGBTQ Sexual Assault"
nominated by Julie Halpert, Environ 320

Granader Family Prize for Excellence in Upper-Level Writing (Humanities)

Bethany Canning "Dying in America"
nominated by Paul Barron, Writing 420

Wake Coulter "Freeway in the Garden"
nominated by Jennifer Metsker, ARTDES 399