The English Department recognizes excellence in student writing, both creative and critical, with a number of awards.  The English Department will sponsor a reading for the winners late in the spring semester.

Seated (l-r)

• Caleb Graham '23 - Alice and Ray Drum British Isles Summer Travel Award 
• Kyra Lisse '22 - Elisabeth Doreen Shaw Russell Prize in Creative Nonfiction 
• Olivia Heffernan '22 - The Arleen "Cookie" Faust Prize for Humor Writing

Standing (l-r) 

• Seyla Velez '25 - Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize
• Hunter Conrad '22 - William Uhler Hensel Senior Prize
• Jeremy Mauser '22 - Jerome Irving Bank Memorial Short Story Prize

Not pictured

• Zeyu Wang '23 - William Uhler Hensel Junior Prize

Identify the award int eEvery spring, the English Department accepts submissions for the annual Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize. Only Franklin & Marshall students are eligible.  Submissions must be limited to one poem of any length, subject, or form. The poem must be original. Translations are unacceptable.

The author’s name is not to appear on the poem but must be on a cover sheet that contains the title of the poem and the author’s name and campus address. 

Submissions are due to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

The winner will be chosen by members of the English Department and will receive a $100.00 honorarium from the Academy of American Poetry. 

Please note:  Only one submission is permitted per student. Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.

 Franklin & Marshall students are invited to submit a short story to the annual Jerome Irving Bank Memorial Short Story Prize, the winner of which will receive $1,000 and the opportunity to meet with this year's contest judge.

The Jerome Irving Bank Esq., Memorial Fund was established in 2003 by F&M alumnus Lawrence Henry Bank, Esq. '65 to honor and preserve the memory of his late brother, Jerome Irving Bank.

Eligibility:

The contest is open to all currently-enrolled students at Franklin & Marshall College.

Guidelines:

Maximum 20 pages [typed and double-spaced], submitted in duplicate with name, class year, email and phone contacts appearing on the top left corner of the first page of the story.   

Submissions are due to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

Please note:  Only one submission is permitted per student.  Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.

The Alice and Ray Drum British Isles Summer Travel Award, first given in 2001, offers $3,000 to support summer research in the British Isles. The award is enabled by a donation by Dr. Alice Drum, Vice President from 1988-2001 as well as a professor in the areas of English literature and Women's Studies; and by Dr. Ray K. Drum, who taught for more than thirty years at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and who is also an enthusiast of traveling and hiking in the British Isles.

How to Apply

Winners, with a preference for English majors who will be enrolled at the College in the semester following the award, will be chosen by a faculty committee appointed by the Provost. The Committee may interview finalists and request letters of reference.

Winners agree to use the funds as stipulated in the proposal and to submit receipts to the Business Office within 30 days after completion of the project. Winners are recognized at Awards Day and are expected to write a report and (except graduates) to make presentations on campus to interested groups about their projects, including at the Campus Research Fair.

Application Materials and Procedure

1. The Travel Award Application Cover Sheet (downloaded below) will guide you in how to submit these supplemental items:

2. A copy of the your latest unofficial F&M transcript.

3. A biographical essay of about 500 words describing your education, interests, achievements, personal and professional goals, and other relevant factors.

4. A statement of about 500 words about the project: its objectives, how you will achieve them, its connection to your interests, background, and goals, and how you will share the results with others.

5. A budget of all expected expenses, including any that would be met from other sources.  Please download the Travel Award Budget Form to list your expected expenses.

6. One letter of recommendation from a faculty member or administrator familiar with your work and proposal, and the names of two more FSA willing to recommend you.

Submissions are due to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

Please note:  Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.

 This award is meant to celebrate the life and achievements of Elisabeth Doreen Shaw Russell, B.A. M.A. Oxford.  She taught briefly at Franklin & Marshall College and several years at Lancaster Country Day School, then 20 years at Elizabethtown College where she chaired the English Department for her last 10 years.  She demanded nothing but the best from her students and colleagues, and she demanded nothing which she did not freely give. 

This award is meant to acknowledge the achievement and passing of a great student, a great teacher, and, above all, a great person.

Submissions for the prize should focus more on the personal rather than on the public concerns.  For instance, if one was writing about the natural world, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods would be a good model.  Put differently, what we are looking for is writing that dramatizes internal more than external concerns. So, writing that leans towards the memoir or autobiography would not be amiss. 

Please submit your prize entries with name, class year, email and phone contacts appearing on the top left corner to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

Please note:  Only one submission is permitted per student.  Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.

This award is meant to celebrate Arlene "Cookie" Faust, the beloved academic coordinator for the English department at Franklin & Marshall College from 1985-2012.  For 27 years, Cookie, supported and cared for the English department -- its faculty, students, and alumni -- as if they were her family.  Her signature warmth, skill, wisdom, kindness, and humor uplifted and instructed all who worked with her.  A longtime employee of the College, and a mother of two and grandmother of four, she possessed a wealth of experience and told fabulous, hilarious stories.

Submissions for the prize should be entertaining and funny.  Work in any genre is accepted, and there is no page limit. 

Please submit  your prize entry with name, class year, email and phone contacts appearing on the top left corner to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

Please note:  Only one submission is permitted per student.  Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.

Each year, the department may award two Hensel Prizes, one to a member of the senior class and one to a member of the junior or sophomore class. To be eligible for consideration, a paper must have been submitted in an F&M English course since the time of the last competition in the Spring of the previous year. Essays must be submitted in triplicate to the English Department.

 Criteria:

• The paper should have a controlling idea, one that offers a compelling reading of a text or texts.
•  The paper should be excellent stylistically, clear, correct, and graceful. It should be effectively developed.
• Papers should be edited for submission and may be revised. The essay should be typed and double-spaced. The writer should be sure to include his or her name and class year on the manuscript and should identify the course for which the essay was originally written.  
• For the Senior Hensel Prize, the essay should be scholarly, using secondary sources in a way that contributes judiciously to the argument.

Please submit your prize entries with name, class year, email and phone contacts appearing on the top left corner to englishawards@fandm.edu.  Identify the award in the name of the document to ensure it is entered correctly.

Please note:  Only one submission is permitted per student.  Eligibility is restricted to currently enrolled F&M students.