Awarded annually, the SAGES University Seminar Essay Prizes highlight the best student writing produced in SAGES University Seminars each year.
SAGES and the Writing Program selected four writers from among more than 40 nominations across more than 100 seminars to receive the prize for 2020-21.
The following winners were selected:
- “Proposal for Change: Building a Bridge to a New, More Diverse Audience for Cuyahoga Valley National Park” by Blake Botto, written for USNA 265: Thinking National Parks (seminar leader: Eric Chilton)
- “Redistributing Power through Magical Realism: Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water” by Claire Hahn, written for USSY 293G: Magical Realism in Fiction and Film (seminar leader: Joshua Hoeynck)
- “The Use of Music as a Tool of Queer Allyship by Non-Queer Artists” by Sofia Lemberg, written for USSY 294D: 20th Century American Music and Cultural Criticism (seminar leader: Andrew Kluth)
- “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Consistency and Inconsistency in the Face of Transgender Identity” by Mirra Rasmussen, written for USSO 291Y: Immigration, Identity, and Writing (seminar leader: Luke Reader)
Recipients of the prize receive a cash award and recognition at the annual Writing Program Award Ceremony at the end of each academic year. The authors also work with the Writing Program to edit and publish their projects on the Writing@CWRU website.