Congratulations to Lily Coll and Shriya Penmetsa for being this year's recipients of the Dean James E. McLeod First-Year Writing Prize!
This year’s winners of the Dean James E. McLeod First-Year Writing Prize were announced Wednesday night at The CWP Presents: WashU Writing Showcase in Bowles Plaza. The event also featured readings from the winning essays.
The 2021 recipients of the McLeod Writing Prize are Lily Coll, from Arts & Sciences, for the essay “’A Civil Rights Law of Our Own': Intersectionality and The Disability-Race Analogy in the Trailer for the Documentary Crip Camp,” and Shriya Penmetsa, from Olin Business School, for the essay “Stagnant Prejudice Against Dark Skin in South Indian Cinema.”
The McLeod Writing Prize was created to encourage first-year students to begin engaging in research in the early stages of their undergraduate careers; to understand that scholarship is a creative form of expression that can reach others in real and meaningful ways; and most importantly, by fully participating in the process of research and writing, to see themselves as scholars in the making. Two prizes are awarded each year; one to a student in the College of Arts & Sciences, and one to a student in McKelvey School of Engineering, Olin Business School, or Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Runners-up include Kaden Chaudhary, from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, for the essay “WashU Undergraduate Admissions: Portrayal of and Catering to Economic Diversity,” and Renata Shen, from Arts & Sciences, for the essay “Illustrious or Illegitimate? Defining Youth Taiwanese National Identity.”
Honorable mentions include Dylan Mack, from McKelvey School of Engineering, for the essay “Social Determinants of Health: Gender Identity,” and Jessie Wills, from Arts & Sciences, for the essay “'My Adidas:' The Wins and Losses of Hip-Hop Fashion in a Prejudiced America.”
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