Past Winners Archive

Jacobs Library at IVCC houses the complete collection of all winning essays in a local history file. We encourage you to stop by and read some excellent student writing!

IVCC Writing Center tutors are denoted with an asterisk. Photo gallery appears at bottom of page. 

2016 Award Recipients

English 0900

• First place: “Loneliness of Red Chief” by Cheryl Carlson

• Second place: “Teaching Shane to Ride a Bike”  by Linda Buland

• Third place: “What Information can Storytelling Pass Down to Future Generations?” by Gerald (Jerry) Savage

English 1001

• First place: “Fantasies and Consequences” by Antonia Jenifer Kovacs

• Second place: “Conquering Tyria” by Josh Mesick

• Third place: “Comparative Analysis of ‘Araby’ and ‘A & P’” by Payton Deady

English 1002

• First place: “Biographical Criticism of Ernest Hemingway” by Gabriel Braboy

• Second place: “How Would One Respond?” by Monica Joerger

• Third place: “Life, Death, and Life Again” by Timothy Perry

2017 Award Recipients

English 1001:

• First place: “A Short Stack Life” by Megan Ottgen

• Second place: “The Oppression of Women” by Connor Alvey

• Third place: “The Old and Young Helping Each Other” by Martha Hoffman*

English 1002:

• First place: “Twelve Years a Slave: Freedom, Fugitive Slaves, and Freed Blacks” by Brooklynn Gosnell

• Second place: “The Pessimism of ‘The Terminal Bar’” by Justin Lewis*

• Third place, tie: 

  • “Fate vs. Freedom” by Isabella Warmack* 

  • “Unequal Protection Under the Law” by Ryan Mann

2018 Award Recipients

ENG 0900:

• First place:  “Sign Language in Elementary Schools” by Alexis Countryman

ENG 1001:

• First place: “House of Hope” by Joannah Elaina Cisneros

• Second place, tie: 

  • “The Flexibility of Time” by Haley Elizabeth Gerkitz 

  • “Stuck in a Dreary Life” by Nikolas Muzzareli

ENG 1002:

• First place: “An Inevitable Demise: Cultural Analysis of Sophocles’ Antigone” by Amanda Leppert Gomes

• Second place, tie: 

  • “The Intangibles of War” by Noemi Gonzalez 

  • “Agriculture: Our Greatest Pursuit” by Miriam Hoffman

2019 Award Recipients

ENG 1001: 

• First place: Jessica Smith, "Breastfeeding in Public"

• Second place: Alec Lockwood, "Video Game Preservation: A Game Rigged Against Its Players"

• Third place: Maddie Hunter, "One for All and All for Online Tracking"

• Honorable mention: Leah Meyers, "Learning Within Rape Culture: How Sexual Harassment and Assault in Schools Negatively Affects Students’ Education"

ENG 1002:

• First place: John Megow, "Three Poor Rebels"

• Second place: Nate Draper, "Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges in the Fight for Equality"

2020 Award Recipients

ENG 1001

• First place: Margret Morse, “How Do We Deal with Ecological Grief?” 

•  Second place, tie: 

  • Ella Bertalot, “Find the Joy in Little Things”  

  • Kelly Devert, “Roman Fever Spikes Deception” 

• Third place: Carly Christman, “The Gift of Teaching”

ENG 1002

• First place: Dylan Zupec, “The War on Drugs Is a War on Black Lives” 

• Second place: Madeleine Michaela Hunter, “Rest for Society’s Biased Soul”

2021 Award Recipients

ENG 0900

• First place: Jennifer Nicole Knudson, “Coaching Younglings”

• Second place: Suzanne Elaine Spreitzer, “The Importance of Childhood Immunizations”       

• Third place: Austin Dille, “Deadly Halloween Costumes”

ENG 1001

• First place:  Victoria O. Petersen, “​​Racism in “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin”

• Second place:  Chloe Bruce, “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit: The Pains of Revenge in “The Cask of Amontillado”

• Third place:  Stephen R, Shaw, “In Support of Gender Abolition”

ENG 1002

• First place: Makayla Ritko, “Sophocles’ Antigone: An Early Conduit for Feminism”

• Second place: Jentsie Louise Petersen, “Examining How Mattel Has Changed The Barbie Image In Relation to CHAT Terms”

• Third place, tie:

  • Kinnason Jackson, “Negative Relationship Dynamics and their Toxicity”

  • Andrea Lindenbaum, “A Massive Catastrophe: American Prisons”

2022 Award Recipients

ENG 0900

First place: 

“Break Free” by Choice Phelps

ENG 1001

First place, tie: 

• “Decriminalizing Addiction” by Trinity Schlappi

• “Artificial Intelligence Threatens Day-to-Day Life” by Eric Lockwood

Second place: 

“Life and Death in “The Death of the Moth” by Stephanie Bernhard

Third place, tie: 

•  “Why the United States Should Recognize the Armenian Genocide” by Terran Polhemus

• “Effects of Domestic Violence” by Abbey Calkins

ENG 1002

•  First place: “Held Up on Homelessness: A Vicious Cycle in the United States” by Erin Brooker

• Second Place:  “Travel Journal Writing: Let’s CHAT About It” by Gabriella Smith

• Third place: “Exploring the World is Necessary for Development” by Drew Kalsto