Hopwood writing awards presented to 34

April 20, 2007
Contact:
  • umichnews@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR—Thirty-four University of Michigan students have received $175,200 writing prizes in the Hopwood Contest and other contests administered by the Hopwood Awards Program.

Susan Stamberg, special correspondent for National Public Radio and author of “Talk: NPR’s Susan Stamberg Considers All Things, Every Night at Five,” spoke to this year’s winners this week.

With the prizes, the legacy of Avery Hopwood, a 1905 U-M graduate and the most successful Broadway playwright of the 1920s, continues to grow.

The winners from Michigan, listed by home town, are:

Ann Arbor: Cyan James (double winner): Hopwood Drama Award, $4,000 and Hopwood Novel Award, $6,000; Danielle Lazarin, (double winner): Hopwood Graduate Nonfiction Award, $2,000 and Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction Award, $4,000; Christina McCarroll, Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction Award, $2,000.

Clarkston: Amanda K. Nichols, Hopwood Undergraduate Nonfiction Award $6,000.

Ferndale: D’Anne Witkoswki, Hopwood Graduate Nonfiction Award, $2,000; Gil W. McRipley, Jr., The Leonard and Eileen Newman Prize in Dramatic Writing, $1,000

Franklin: Zachary Smilovitz, The Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Undergraduate Playwriting $3,000.

Grand Blanc: Christopher Ruhlen, Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry Award, $3,500.

Grand Rapids: Natasha Stagg, Hopwood Undergraduate Nonfiction Award, $2,000; Rachel Harkai, Triple winner: Hopwood Undergraduate Nonfiction Award, $6,000; Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry Award, $9,000 and The Paul and Sonia Handleman Poetry Award, $2,500.

Kalamazoo: Michael Pifer, Double winner: Hopwood Undergraduate Nonfiction Award, $6,000 and The Helen J. Daniels Prize, $500.

Kentwood: Andy Kula, Hopwood Screenplay Award, $6,000.

Rochester Hills: Ben Gunsberg, the Hopwood Graduate Poetry Award,
$3,500.

West Bloomfield: Alexander Gorosh, Kasdan Scholarship in Creative Writing $6,500; Eric Kahn Gale, Double winner, Hopwood Drama Award, $7,500 and The Dennis McIntyre Award for Distinction in Undergraduate laywriting,
$2,500.

The winners from outside Michigan are:
Anoka County, Minn.: Steve Woodward, Anoka County, Minn. Hopwood Short Fiction Award, $2,000.

Austin, Texas: Randa Jarrar, Double winner, Hopwood Novel Award, $8,500 and The Geoffrey James Gosling Prize, $800.

Boardman, Ohio: Katie Hartsock, Double winner: Hopwood Graduate Poetry Award, $8,000 and The Helen S. and John Wagner Prize, $800.

Brooklyn, N.Y.: Danielle Sandella, Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction Award, $3,000.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Geetha Iyer: Double winner: Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction Award., $7,500 and The Robert F. Haugh Prize, $2,500.

Evanston, Ill: Z. N. Lupetin, Evanston, Ill, Triple winner: Hopwood Drama Award, $3,500; Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction Award, $4,000 and the Stanley S. Schwartz Prize, $500.

Kemah, Texas: Joshua Edwards, The Meader Family Award, $2,500.

Kilgore, Texas: Ben Stroud, Hopwood Graduate Nonfiction Award, $4,500.

Marion, N.C.: Greg Schutz, the Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing, $3,000.

Mason, Wisconsin: Mika Perrine, Double Winner, Hopwood Graduate Nonfiction Award, $5,500 and the John Wagner Prize, $800.

Minneapolis, Minn: Abam Mambo, The Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize in Fiction, $1,000.

Naperville, Ill.: Claire Smith, Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry Award, $2,000.

New Carlisle, Ohio: Jacob McGlaun, The Dennis McIntyre Prize for Distinction in Undergraduate Playwriting, $3,000.

Roanoke, Va.: Ann Laura Wetherington, The Meader Family Award, $2,500.

San Francisco, Calif: Nami Mun, Double winner: Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction Award, $5,000 and Andrea Beauchamp Prize, $800.

Shaker Heights, Ohio: Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren, The Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize for the Long Poem or Poetic Sequence, $5,000.

Studio City, Calif.: Gabriel Rivin, the Arthur Miller Award of the University of Michigan Club of New York Scholarship Fund, $2,000.

Sylvania, Ohio: Tina Ballon, Hopwood Graduate Poetry Award, $2,000.

Worthington, Ohio: Michael Lacher, Double winner: Hopwood Screenplay Award, $8,000 and Naomi Saferstein Literary Award, $1,000.

The program has awarded more than 3,000 prizes totaling more than $2.1 million. Past winners include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller and recent bestselling author Elizabeth Kostova.

More on the Hopwood program >