University Writing announces 2023 Student Writing Award winners

To celebrate excellence in writing, University Writing offers annual awards for student essays and ePortfolios. This year, seven students were recognized for their writing.

Outstanding ePortfolio Award

University Writing presents the Outstanding ePortfolio Award to recognize exceptional ePortfolios created by Auburn students. This year marks the 10th annual award. Winners are chosen by the ePortfolio Award Committee, which uses University Writing’s ePortfolio rubric to score entries across nine criteria that are based in themes of critical thinking, visual literacy, technical competency and effective communication.

Leslie Cordie, Jeff Kim, Silvia Vilches, Megan Heim LaFrombois, Okunola Odeniyi and Zoe Smith served on the 2023 committee. University Writing’s Associate Director, Layli Miron, coordinated the committee.

The winner of the 2023 Outstanding ePortfolio Award is Johnathan Hampton a senior in horticulture and pre-landscape architecture. The committee remarked upon the passion for designing beautiful outdoor spaces evinced by Hampton’s website, which features a range of landscaping projects he has done. As one member wrote, “I love the way he poured his heart and soul into landscaping his neighbor’s yard: this demonstrated his personality as well as his evolution of skill. You can sense his humbleness but also his passion for his profession. He displays a great diversity of work, too. I can see how he would apply his skills to a variety of contexts.”

The committee selected two runners up for this year’s award, Jarelle Hooks and Sam Gray. Hooks earned her master’s in social work in 2022; her ePortfolio was celebrated for its a refreshingly simple design that foregrounds her values and reflections. Hooks created her ePortfolio as part of her position with the Miller Writing Center, where she worked as a peer consultant.

Gray, a senior in marketing, had his ePortfolio nominated by his professor Emory Serviss. The committee praised Gray’s ePortfolio for its impressive artifacts and cohesive narrative.

Submissions for the 2024 Outstanding ePortfolio Award are open now through March 2024.

Sustainability Essay Award

University Writing collaborated with the Academic Sustainability Program to offer the first-ever Sustainability Essay Award this year. The contest encouraged students to consider their relationship with the physical world in relation to the four points of Auburn’s Sustainability Compass: Nature, Wellbeing, Society, and Economy. Academic Sustainability Director Rebecca Retzlaff served on the review committee along with Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Robert Sproull, with Layli Miron coordinating.

Two essays won awards. In first place is an essay by Savanna Wooten, a doctoral student in Environmental Science, which got accolades for the complexity of the topics it explores in a mere two pages, ranging from friendship to economic forces. An essay by Hannah Richie, a freshman in Political Science, was awarded second place. Reviewers noted that in “Natural Beauty,” [https://sustain.auburn.edu/natural-beauty/] Richie expresses a relatable sense of nostalgia about the loss of natural spaces due to urban growth.

Two writers earned honorable mentions for their essays: Steven P. McKnight, a doctoral student in Public Administration and Public Policy, and Hannah Henry, a master’s student in natural resources. McKnight’s essay, “Reflection on Refuge,” was praised by reviewers for considering how the pandemic reshaped his relationship with the outdoors, a message that likely would resonate with many others who found solace in nature at the height of COVID-19. About Henry’s essay, “My Reflections on Interacting with the Physical World,” a reviewer commented that it “recognizes the complex nature of issues related to humankind, the economy and the natural world.”

Submissions for the 2024 Sustainability Essay Contest will open in early 2024. University Writing thanks all the writers who submitted to the contests for sharing their ePortfolios and essays.