This scholarship, which provides funding for a student’s first and second years at MU, will be awarded to an incoming freshman majoring in English. The scholarship is based foremost on academic record and intellectual promise, secondarily on financial need. To apply, students must submit an unofficial high-school transcript, a resume, their ACT or SAT scores, a 500-word essay on why you wish to pursue an English major, and a recommendation letter from a teacher or guidance counselor through Scholarship Universe by February 1. Please notify Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This scholarship will be awarded to an incoming freshman or transfer student majoring in English and who is in the high need category for financial aid. The award is renewable for up to four years for freshmen and up to two years for transfer students. To apply, students must submit an unofficial high-school transcript, a resume, a 500-word essay on why they wish to pursue an English major, a recommendation letter from a teacher or guidance counselor, and a one-page statement of financial need through Scholarship Universe by February 1. Applicants must be MO residents. Please notify Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This scholarship, funded by English Department alumni and created by the English Department Leaders Board, annually rewards an outstanding undergraduate English major. The Alumni Scholarship requires a minimum of a 3.5 overall GPA, and a 3.6 in the major.

Candidates will also be judged by their transcript; a recommendation letter from an English faculty member; and a one-page essay on the following question: If you could select one literary text that every English major should read, what would you select and why? Among equally qualified candidates, judges will give preference to a student with some financial need.

To apply, students must submit their unofficial transcript, recommendation letter, and essay through Scholarship Universe by March 1. Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu.

This scholarship rewards a current English major who submits two outstanding essays of academic criticism (essays can be on literature, rhetoric and writing, linguistics, film/visual studies, culture, theory, etc.). Essays must be between 4-7 pp., double-spaced. Among the possible criteria on which judges will base their decision are:

• quality of the research
• innovation in approach
• stylistic elegance
• structure and organization
• persuasiveness of argument and/or richness of ideas/themes.

Students must also have a minimum of a 3.5 overall GPA and a 3.6 in the major and be eligible for financial aid. To apply, submit your transcript, resume, writing samples, and one-page statement of financial need through Scholarship Universe by March 1. Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This scholarship rewards a current English major who submits two outstanding pieces of creative writing (poetry, fiction, drama, film script, CNF, or some combination all qualify). Among the possible criteria on which judges will be basing their decision are:

• Innovation/originality
• Style/Voice
• Richness of ideas

Students must also have a minimum of a 3.5 overall GPA and a 3.6 in the major as well as demonstrate financial need. To apply, submit your transcript, resume, a one-page statement of financial need, and two writing samples (if submitting a story, essay, play, or script, do not exceed 10pp for either one) through Scholarship Universe by March 1st.  Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This scholarship rewards a current MU student who demonstrates professional integrity, a strong sense of ethics and moral character, and a commitment to the pursuit of social justice.  Applications will be judged mainly on the basis of a 5-7pp essay that answers this question: Describe one way in which you have promoted social justice in your own life. A minimum overall GPA of 3.0 is required for this scholarship. To apply, submit transcript and essay through Scholarship Universe by March 1st. Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This award will be given to a current English major who submits an outstanding 5-7pp critical essay, written for an English class during the previous academic year. The essay can be on any topic and take a variety of approaches, from a traditional, researched essay to one that blends creative and critical writing. To apply, submit transcript and essay through Scholarship Universe by March 1st. Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

This award will be given to a current English major who submits an outstanding 5-7pp. critical essay, written for an English class or English-department sponsored contest during the previous academic year. The essay can be on any topic and take a variety of approaches, from a traditional, researched essay to one that blends creative and critical writing. To apply, submit transcript and essay through Scholarship Universe by March 1st.  Please send the Scholarships Cover Sheet (link below) to Dr. Nan West, Director of Undergraduate Studies: westn@missouri.edu, once you have applied.

Deadline: April 19.

The Honors Thesis Prize is awarded to the two best honor theses written during that calendar year, one in criticism and one in creative writing. The prize is open to all students registered in English 4996 in the fall and who are writing an Honors Thesis the following spring. To apply, log in to Scholarship Universe, search for the prize, and follow the instructions there.

The Mahan First-Writing Award is a competition for first-year students enrolled in English 1000. View submission details.

Every year, the Creative Writing Program gives away prizes to undergraduate students for fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. Send us your short fiction, poems, and other creative writing for the chance to win one of these awards. 

For detailed information about the available prizes, visit https://english.missouri.edu/creative-writing/awards.

This contest seeks to recognize and reward outstanding student research. It differs from other research paper contests in that it does not judge only the paper itself, but also the research process and the student’s ability to articulate his or her experience conducting research. View details about this contest.

2022-2023: Chance Walker

2021-2022: Sherell Williams and Shea Wilson

2020-2021: Ethan Anderson and Katy Bond

2019-2020: Ethan Anderson and Annalee Roustio

2018-2019: Rebecca Oliver and Emmalee Wilkins

2017-2018: Allyson Chapman and Jamie Berry

2016-2017: Ameerah Sanders and Jamie Berry

2015-2016: Kaitlin Beardmore

2014-2015: Erin Niederberger

2013-2014: Tegan Blackwood

2012-2013: Jaclyn Herr and Arriana Hayes

2022- 2023: Reagan Swatosh

2021-2022: Rebecca Jackoway and Sherell Williams

2020-2021: Vivan Herzog and Lauren Hynes

2019-2020: Alyssa Ripley and Macy Mundwiller

2018-2019: Lauren Pike and Peter Baugh

2017-2018: Sarah Pribe, Lauren Pike, and Amy Taylor

2016-2017: Taylor Ysteboe, Sherell Barbee, and Autumn McLain

2015-2016: Bradford Barnhardt, Erin Niederberger, and Tonya Eberhard

2014-2015: Katherine Hobbs, Hannah Salings, and Jennifer Para

2013-2014: Enrique Meijia and Kristin Carranza

2012-2013: Edward Hart, Grace McNamee, and Karlyn Skinner

2022-2023: Reagan Swatosh and Taylor Kelley

2021-2022: Katy Bond

2020-2021: Ethan Anderson

2019-2020: Ethan Anderson

2018-2019: Shelby Hart

2017-2018: Emily Hanneman and Rebecca Jaeckels

2016-2017: Marleigh Anderson and Sarah Judd

2015-2016: Marleigh Anderson and Marek Makowski

2014-2015: Jacqueline Land

2013-2014: Tegan Blackwood

2012-2013: Enrique Meijia and Charnissia Smith

2022-2023: Esra Jackson (Runners up: Chance Walker and Macee Borrowman)

2021-2022: Shea Wilson

2020-2021: Olivia Flagg-Bourke

2019-2020: Annalee Roustio

2018-2019: Emily Hanneman

2017-2018: Shelby Hart

2016-2017: Jamie Berry

2015-2016: Lindsey Marschka

2014-2015: Hannah Salings

2023: Colton Hicks

2022: Elizabeth Busch, "'Neither of woman nor of man': Gender, Drag, and Theatrical Costume in Charlotte Brontë's Villette"

2021: Katy Bond, "Mouths in a Glass: Reflections Between Cordelia and Hamlet" (written for Prof. Bill Kerwin's ENGL 4167: Shakespeare's Tragedies)

2021: John Romer, "Pedagogy and the Complex of Voice, Body, and Place in the Old English Judith" (written for Prof. Johanna Kramer's ENGL 4206: Old English Literature)

2020: Ethan Anderson, “Mere Friendship: Queer Desire in Theseus’s Athens” (written for Prof. Lee Manion’s English 8220: Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution in Premodern Britain)

2020: Devon Hoerr, “Carmilla and the Queer Experience” (written for Prof. Lee Manion’s English 4996W: Honors Seminar in English)

2019: Andrew Frein, "Shakespeare's House of Cards: The Social Critique of Family and Politics in King Lear" (written for Prof. Anne Myers’ English 4167W Major Authors, 1603-1789)

2018: Elorm Nutakor, for “An Exploration of Pride in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels” (written for Prof. Stephen Karian’s English 4996W: Honors Seminar)

2018: Andrew Frein, for “The Subconscious of the New Woman in The Romance of a Shop” (written for Prof. Elizabeth Chang’s English 4188: Major Women Writers, 1789-1890)

2017: Andrew Frein, for "The Picture of Dorian Gray as an Immoral Tale" (written for Prof. Julie Melnyk’s English 3210: Survey of British Literature, Romanticism-Present)

2017: Bruno Vernaschi, for "Botched Intentions: On Chaucer, Jews, Calumny, and Hypocrisy" (written for Prof. Lee Manion’s English 4210: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales)

2015: Marleigh Anderson, for “Punctuation and Pulsation: William Blake’s Period” (written for Prof. Lily Gurton-Wachter’s English 4168: William Blake) 

2014: Bradford Barnhardt, “King Henry IV’s Machiavellian Call for the Crusades” (written for Prof. Bill Kerwin’s English 4166)

2013: Kristen Carranza, “Abdicating the Seat of Life: Man in the Stomach of Paradise Lost” (written for Prof. Anne Myers’ English 4167)

2012: Tegan Blackwood, “Topical Polemics in ‘The Life of Christina of Markyate’” (written for Prof. Johanna Kramer’s English 4210)

2023: Reagan Swatosh

2022: ZuZu Burdsal, "An Exploration of Modernism in 'Resume'"

2022: Kathryn Colvin, "The 'List' and the Tryst: Absent and Present Forbidden Encounters in Sonnet Form"

2021: Della Rodenbaugh, "A Close Reading of Fun Home" (written for Prof. Anne Myers' ENGL 2100: Literature and Memory)

2023:
Creative Writing: Audrey Bush (Runner up: Jesse Perue)
Criticism: Sophie Lewczuk (Runner up: Colton Hicks)

2022: Claire Lynch Huber for "Mocking Mother" (Advisor: Nancy West)

2022: Elizabeth Marszalek for "Bad Romance: Or, Period Drama’s Glamorization of the Gothic (Advisor: Nancy West)

2021: Ethan Anderson, “The Yearning Dove: Sodomy and Shame in ‘The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale’” (Advisor: Emma Lipton)

2021 (Honorable Mention): Vivian Herzog, “Salty Sweet: Iberian Essays” (Advisor: Julija Šukys)

2020: Sean Dolan, "Everything All At Once: Stories & Studies in the Second Person" (Advisor: Phong Nguyen)

2020 (Honorable Mention): Sabrina Heffern, "The Anatomy of a Strange People: A Study of Ambiguous Loss in Extraordinary Communities" (Advisor: Phong Nguyen)

2019: Abagail Guinn, "Woman Unapologetic: 'something worth learning'" (Advisor: Kimberly McCaffrey) 

2018: Sherell Barbee, “My Mama Meat: An Exploration of African American Women’s Mental Health” (Advisor: Julija Šukys and Christopher Okonkwo)

2017: Marleigh Anderson, “You've Got Mail: Epistolography, Mapping, and Authenticity in Early Literature of Alexander the Great” (Advisor: Lee Manion)

2016: Katherine Hobbs, "‘Immortal Harps’: Milton and Musical Morality in Handel’s Samson” (Advisor: Anne Myers)

2016 (Honorable Mention): Bradford Barnhardt, "‘My Madness Singing’: The Specter of Syphilis in Prufrock’s Love Song" (Advisor: Frances Dickey)

2015: Emily Holtzman, "Indispensable Lives: Magical Realism and Postcolonial Resistance in Ana Castillo’s So Far from God and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” (Advisor: Guadalupe Perez-Anzaldo, Romance Languages)

2015 (Honorable Mention): Delia Rainey, "Summer of the Sabra Cactus: The Body, Landscape, and Numbed Tourism” (Advisor: Lily Gurton-Wachter)

Chloe Kerrigan (2022): First prize for Pink Faux-Leather Journal (With a Magnet Clasp)"
Cole Krah (2022): Second place for "Problem-Solving: The Rights of Nature"

Matt Bond (2021): First prize for "They Belong Too: Increasing Accommodations to Combat Poor Mental Health in the Transgender Community"
Micheal Aguirre (2021): Second prize for "What's the Difference"

Jayda Moss (2020): First prize for “Literacy’s Effect on Black Women: A Personal Narrative”
Michelle Gershkovich (2020): Second prize for “Rushin to Learn English”

Gabriella Salinas (2019): First prize for “First”
Colby Thornton (2019): Second prize for “The Best Men Can Be”

Destiny Landsman (2018): First prize for “Dialectical Issues In The Classroom”
Sara Marquardt (2018): Second prize for “A Face Without a Page”
Fanya Sun (2018): Honorable mention for “The Treasure of Chinese Civilization”

N.F. (2017): First prize for “The Boy of Isolation”
Faramola Shonekan (2017): Second prize for “Social Media and Activism”

Catelyn Williams (2016): First prize for “Why is my Black Culture Only Appreciated When a White Person Is Appropriating It?”
Clemency Neville (2016): Second prize for “The 70s and Saturday Night Fever: The Limitations of Hollywood”

Homer Gaidarski (2015): First prize for “Learning Computer Science: A Secret Wall of Zeros and Ones”
Joseph Henke (2015): Second prize for “Eradicating an Epidemic: How Universities Can Better Protect Women from Sexual Assault”

Amy Brianne Schmiegelow (2014): First prize for “The Word Weavers: A Reader’s Influence on Ever-Changing Definitions”
Derrick Lin (2014): Second prize for “Bryson: Enlarging Vocabularies for a Fuller Language”

Helena Kowalewski (2012): First prize for “Abridging Speech vs. Abridging Lives”
McCullough Mischke (2012): Second prize for “Society in Bell, Book, and Candle and Practical Magic"
Emily Rothove (2012): Honorable mention for “What I Learned at the Kitchen Table”

Kristine A. Kerns (2011): First prize for "Misfortune: Creating Opportunity, or Impeding Happiness?"
Stephen M. Cady (2011): Second prize for "Ramblin' Woman"

Rebecca Taylor (2010): First prize for "The Collapse of the Nuclear Family"
Hannah Spratt (2010): Second prize for "The Dark Side of the Good Women"