Hanson Writing Competition

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The Peter Burton Hanson Writing Prizes

The English Department is pleased to announce the sixth annual undergraduate writing awards, given for the best submissions in the categories of scholarly writing and creative writing respectively. The awards are named in the honor and memory of Peter Burton Hanson, A&S ’91, an English major, who perished along with his wife, Sue Kim, and young daughter, Christine Lee, aboard United Airlines Flight 175, on 9/11/01. The life that Peter practiced and the values that he espoused are remembered here through this prize and stand as testimony to one man’s humanity and victory over the terrorist violence that took so many lives.

Two prizes of $250 each for the best work written in an undergraduate English course (excluding first-year writing courses and Advanced Writing in the Disciplines courses) will be awarded at a special presentation and reception on Thursday, March 19. One prize is awarded in the category of Scholarly Writing, the other in the category of Creative Writing.

Only English majors are eligible, and all English majors are invited to apply. Students may submit work in either, or both, categories.

Eligible for consideration under the category of Scholarly Writing are critical essays on topics in British, American, and comparative literature, as well as on topics in literary theory, rhetoric, and film.

Eligible for consideration under the category of Creative Writing are short stories, chapters from longer works of fiction, poems or small collections of poems, creative prose nonfiction, plays, and screenplays.

DEADLINE: Work should be submitted by email to Prof. Beth Britt (e.britt@neu.edu) no later than 4:00 p.m., Friday, February 20, 2009.

Guidelines for Submission:

Submit one electronic copy of each essay or creative work in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Work should be double-spaced and should use a standard 12-point font.

The title should appear on the first page of the submission, but the student's name should not appear in the work itself. The faculty judges will not know the authors of the submissions.

The body of the email message should include the work’s title, the student's name, the student’s email address, a phone number, and the name of the course for which the work was written, along with the instructor's name.

Students are welcome to revise their work in accordance with the instructor’s suggestions before submitting it to the writing contest.

A student may submit no more than one work in each category (collections of shorter works, such as a group of poems, will be evaluated as one submission in the Creative Writing category).

Submissions in the Scholarly Writing category should be at least five pages long. Submissions in either the Scholarly Writing or the Creative Writing category should not exceed twenty-five pages.

Submissions in both categories are limited to work from Spring Semester 2008 through Spring Semester 2009. Resubmissions are not permitted.

Please note that failure to follow these guidelines may result in disqualification.

The works in each category are judged by a panel of faculty. Anonymity is preserved, and toward that end, faculty members do not judge work written for their own classes.

The prize winners will present their work and receive their awards at a special reception on Thursday, March 19, 2009, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in 340 Egan. It is important that winners make every attempt to attend the ceremony. We hope that other entrants and English majors will also attend this festive event. Refreshments will be served.

For further information, please contact Professor Beth Britt at e.britt@neu.edu.