The Peter J. Theune Memorial Essay Prize
To enter the Peter J. Theune Memorial Essay Prize, students should submit one essay, double-spaced, of no more than 5,000 words (shorter essays are more than acceptable!). Traditional as well as more experimental forms of the essay are welcomed.
Recipients
2025 Winner: Dana Janiec for 鈥淥n the Streets of Berlin"
Honorable Mention: Lily Sakalys for "Thaw"
2024 Winner: Brooke Pacchetti for 鈥淣ew Year, Same Place鈥� and 鈥淧aternity Scandal at the Funeral鈥�
Honorable Mention: Van Le for 鈥淎 Communistic McDonald鈥檚 Advertisement鈥�
2023 Winner: MJ Soria, "Grocery Shoppping"
2022 Winner: Nina DeBoni, "My Grievances with Math, As a Concept"
Honorable Mention: Farah Bassyouni, "Tahrir Square: The Story of a Childhood"
2021 Winner: Gabrielle Ghaderi, 鈥淪ilent Flames: Barcelona after Uprising鈥�
Honorable Mention: Nicole Brennan, "I am an Idiopathic, Not a Crazy Drug Addict鈥�
2020 Winner: Rachel Williams, for her essay "Cancer Can't Take It All"
Honorable Mention: Paraskevi (Vi) Kakares, for her essay 鈥溛� E鈥�
2019 Winner: Kathryn Halford, for her essay "Vulnerability in 5 Stages"
2018 Winner: Emily Salomon, for her essay 鈥淭he Devil鈥檚 Playground鈥�
2017 Winner: Mayra Gonzalez for her essay 鈥淎ssests-Liabilities=Equ[ality]鈥�
Honorable Mention: Vandhana Rajarathnam, for 鈥淭he Garage鈥�
2016 Winner: Hanna Peterson, for her essay 鈥淢y Own Way.鈥�
Honorable Mention: Savannah Feher, for 鈥淔our Plywood Walls.鈥�
2015 Winner: Olivia Anderson, for her essay, 鈥淏lood Tide.鈥�
Honorable Mentions: Olivian Heffernan, for 鈥淚n the Same Bed,鈥� and Jasmine
Wright, for 鈥淎s Best He Could.鈥�
2014 Winner: Colleen O鈥機onnor, for her essay, 鈥淒arling, It鈥檚 Better鈥�
Honorable Mentions: Olivia Anderson and Mack Rivkin
2013 Winner: Sydney White, for her essay, 鈥淗allways and Home鈥�
Honorable Mentions: Savannah Davis and Shane McGowan
Michael Theune - Robert Harrington Endowed Professor of English and Chair of English
Department - English