College Writing Contest Winners Named

03/19/2013 

Benjamin Bouvet-Boisclair, a senior professional writing major, has won the “Best of Show” award in SUNY Cortland’s annual writing contest.

Bouvet-Boisclair, of Ithaca, N.Y., was recognized for a work of creative non-fiction titled “Biking,” written for the Writing for NeoVox course taught by Lorraine Berry, the project director for the College’s online literary and new media design magazine. He is one of seven undergraduate students and one graduate student to submit winning entries in the 2012 College Writing Contest.

Bouvet-Boisclair will receive the 2012 All-College Excellence in Writing Award at Honors Convocation on Saturday, April 20.

All award-winning entries will be published in a booklet dedicated to the College Writing awards and students will present their work at “Transformations: A Student Research and Creativity Conference” on Friday, April 19. The “SUNY Cortland Writing Contest Award Winners Present!” session takes place from 3 to 4 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 204.

This year marks the 14th anniversary of the contest sponsored by the College Writing Committee, the group that also judges the submissions. Written work is judged based on originality, clarity, organization, development and editing. Preference is given to student writing composed for a SUNY Cortland course.

Individual award recipients included:

· Rachelann Copland, a graduate student studying English from Cazenovia, N.Y., won the prize for academic writing at the graduate level for “A Deconstructive Contrapuntal Reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible’s Nathan Price,” written for the Literary Criticism course taught by Elizabeth Stone, an associate professor of English.

· Kayla Jones, a junior biology major from Rome, N.Y., won the prize for poetry for “Absent Reality,” written for the Writing Poetry course taught by Heather Bartlett, a lecturer of English.

· Carol Lee Fritz, a senior international studies major from Trumansburg, N.Y., won the prize for academic writing at the undergraduate level for “Uganda’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS,” written for the HIV Epidemic course taught by Sarah Beshers, an associate professor of health.

· Aaron Proia, a junior professional writing major from Clyde, N.Y., won the prize for fiction for “r3beL,” written for the Writing Fiction course taught by Mario Hernandez, a lecturer of English.

· Nicole Weisblum, a junior childhood/early childhood education major from Rye Brook, N.Y., won the prize for writing related to the Cortland Common Read for “The Kite Runner: How the Movie Compares to the Book,” written for the Introduction to Fiction course taught by Deborah Rogers, a lecturer of English.

· Matthew Perritano, a junior communication studies major from Utica, N.Y., won the prize for academic writing from a composition course for “The Ties that Blind: The Fog of the American Dream,” written for the Writing Studies II course taught by Timothy Emerson, a lecturer of English. Perritano also will receive the 2012 Composition Award at the College’s Honors Convocation for the work.

· Bouvet-Boisclair’s “Biking” also won the prize for creative non-fiction.

· John Amaruso, a senior political science major from Merrick, N.Y., won the prize for personal writing and media for “Next Generation News Junkies” and “JtPolitik,” two personal blogs.

The call for submissions for the 2013 College Writing Contest will be announced later in the spring semester. Eligible papers include those written for courses in 2013, whether spring or fall semesters or winter or summer sessions. The deadline for submissions is Monday, Dec. 23.