Awards - NMU English

• Only ONE poem can be submitted per person
• Attach an electronic copy of your poem to an email and send to english@nmu.edu, with subject line = "Legler Submission," and the following information in the body of the email:
  • Your Name
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • E-mail Address
• Do not type your name or personal information on the poem.
• Submissions failing to meet guidelines will be disqualified.

NOTE:  Judges reserve the right not to award the prize should submissions so indicate.

For questions about the contest, please contact the department of English: 906-227-2711.

Guidelines for Submission

1. ONE story per student.
2. Stories should be double spaced with one inch margins, using 12-point Times New Roman.
3. 5000 word maximum.
4. Students should NOT write their name or personal information on the story.
5. Attach an electronic copy of your story to an email and send to english@nmu.edu, with subject line = "VandeZande Submission," and the following information in the body of the email:
   • Your Name
   • Address
   • Phone Number
   • E-mail Address
6. Submissions failing to meet guidelines will be disqualified

NOTE:  Judges reserve the right not to award the prize should submissions so indicate.

For questions about the contest, please contact the department of English: 906-227-2711.

Barnard Award

Winner- Elli Incha for "Beneath the Surface: Concussions, CTE, and the Long-Term Impact on Athletes"

Honorable Mentions- Rachel Casey for "Pollination Preservation" and Emelia Motta for "Who Deserves My Money?"

Houston Award

Winner- Carli Whalen for "I Remember Who I Am When I’m With You: Intergenerational Connections"

Honorable Mentions- Delia Benson for "When Bricks Become Rocks and Crumble" and Ella Westerman for "The Boundary Waters’ Greatest Threat: Twin Metals"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner- Kailey Buettner for "The First Year is the Body"

Honorable Mentions- Collin Gallion for “The Light”, Giovanni Matthews for “Summaries of a Sun-kissed Body”, Eli Saylor for “You Are!"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner- Joe Kazmierski for "The Promotion"

Honorable Mentions- Kailey Buettner for "I Am a Product of My World, Just Like You", Lucy Ettawageshik for "Those Eyes", Austin Lyons-Chipman for "There Is a Moldy Pear in My Coat Pocket", and Joleena Siebler for "Radical Love"

Barnard Award

Winner- Mary Jane Bauer for "Appalachian Dance--Fine Art or Folk Craft?"

Honorable Mentions- Joe Kazmierski for "Labor and Soul", Andrew Michaud for "22 Per Day", and Amber Regier for "A Drop in the Ocean"

Houston Award

Winner- Alyssa Elder for "Why Is Greenwashing So Effective?"

Honorable Mentions- Silas McNeally for "The Highest Code in the Land: An Examination of the Ethics of the Supreme Court" and Trey Walker for "Hereditary Hunger"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner- Jaden Gootjes for "After grandpa’s last breath (maybe, if things get worse)"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner- Mirabella Markham for "Your Whisker Sister"

Honorable Mentions- Kailey Buettner for "Daddy Always Knew Everything" and Jaden Gootjes for "Less Than Human"

Barnard Award

First Place- Lily Buchholz for "Getting a Grip"

Honorable Mention- Aubrey Huddleston for "Taking Chances"

Houston Award

First Place- Kelly Root for "Frankenstein"

Honorable Mention- Erika McEntee for "Analysis of The Little Thumbling: A Multifaceted Ogre Against the Isolated French"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner- Abby LaForest for "How to Diffuse a Ticking Time Bomb"

Honorable Mentions - "Farewell to the Sky" by Brielle Pote, "ego, echoed" by Erin O'Donnell, "On the Death of My Youth" by Eli Saylor

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner- Eli Saylor for "For Two"

Runner-up- Julia Seitz for "Sand Polisher"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place- Molly Miller for "Social Work and the Refugee Crisis"

2nd Place- Natalie Willyerd for "Fighting Drug Violence with Compassion and Care"

3rd Place- Madison Christie for "Patronage Networks: Case Study"

Barnard Award

First Place- Elliot Shumate for "The Process of Them"

Second Place- Amber Wager for "Granot Loma Rocket Site"

Third Place- Trevor Lewis for "Microplastics in the Laurentian Great Lakes"

Houston Award

First Place- Brooks Shubel for "Sex Ed Curricula"

Second Place- Jackson Cotter for "Get Out Analysis"

Third Place- Abby Kerr for "How One Sings Matters"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner- Matt Christie for "One Life"

Finalist- Lorynn Hackert for "Watchful Birder"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner- Jonny Youngson for "Favorite Way to Say Hello"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place- Mossy Schumann for "Language and the Portrayal of Black People from the Colonization of the Congo to Modern Day with Supplemental History"

2nd Place- Erin O'Donnell for "Parallels and Divergences Between Proto-Feminist Ideas and Modern-Day Feminism"

3rd Place- Jackson Cotter for "True Satirical Horror: A Cultural Analysis of Jordan Peele's Get Out"

Cohodas Literary Prize

First Place- Noah Kupper for "One Might Argue"

Second Place- Kadin Fox for "American Ancestry"

Third Place- Emily Pfeiff for "Never Again"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner- Matthew Baker

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner- Akasha Khalsa

Runner Up- Darian Sabisch

Barnard Award

1st Place -  Autumn Buchholz for "Maquilas: Manufacturing Gender and Sexual Based Violence" 

2nd Place Tie -   Sarah Liston for "Malleable Memories and Dictatorship in Two Latin American Documentaries" &  Rachel Placeway for "Preserving the Lives of Troubled Youth"

Houston Award         

1st Place -  Lauren Nyenhuis for "Horror Film Scores Over Time"

2nd Place - Autumn Boyer for "Should We Celebrate Columbus Day?"

3rd Place - Akasha Khalsa for "Narratives of Peace and Violence"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winners -  Jailin Peterson for "Obsidian" (email jaikaise@nmu.edu to request to read poem) &  Alex Watanen for "We Treat Our Dogs Better"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner -  Peter Smedley for "Frozen Clocks and False Carnations"

Runner-Up - Jane Replogle for "Growing"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place -  Peter Smedley for "The Millennial Narrative"

2nd Place - Lorynn Hackert for "The Darkside of Digital Intimacy"

3rd Place - Jake Rajala for "Making the Right Progression"

Barnard Award

1st Place -  Joseph Sturm for "Daniel of the Blossoming Valley" 

2nd Place - Matthew Goss for "Inside Checkpoint Two"

Houston Award

1st Place -  Michael Palkki for "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks:  Being informed to be able to give consent" 

2nd Place - Mason Pucelik for "Enbridges Line 5, A Disaster Waiting to Happen"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Devin Hartman for "Ablation"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner -  Akasha Khalsa for " Winter and the Dancers"

Honorable Mentions - Sam Bray for "To Be Reborn" & Zoe Maki for "Come to Where the Flavor Is"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place, Caitlin Sternberg, "Sharing Terror"

2nd Place, Elizabeth Mansfield, "Thinking Differently"

3rd Place Tie, Kelsey Hibbard, "Identity Theft" & Isabelle Nebel, "Cohodas Literary Prize Submission FINAL"

Barnard Award

Winners -

Isabelle Ureel for "Of Monsters and Misogyny" 
Rebekah Grissom for "The Most Valuable"

Honorable Mention:  Haley Gaboury for "Realizing the Inevitable"

Houston Award 

Winners -

Arianna Forsman for "Could Ents Be More Than Fiction"
Tyler Penrod for "Anthropocene Extinction: Our Dying Planet"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winners - 

Scott Dorsch for "The Heights"
Lilith Kontos for "peeling potatoes"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Scott Dorsch for "Holes or Tunnels"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place, Nolan M. Greene, "Holocaust Denial"

2nd Place, Aya Jane Waite, "Treat Others as you Wish"

3rd Place, Cortney Kingsley, "Genocide in Guatemala"

Barnard Award

Winners -

Tyler Penrod for "Finding Family" - emailed request to read to tpenrod@nmu.edu
Paige Cutler for "Benzie County"
Abigail Christmas for "Alzheimer's Disease Prevention"

Houston Award         

Winners -

Emily Bell for "Analysis of Vincent van Gogh"
Meagan Bauer for "Emma Watson's Speech to the UN on Gender Equality"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winners 
Brian Czyzyk for "Diatom"
Maddy Gardiner for "Sitting Outside a Church Parking Lot, for Fish that Fly on Fridays"

Honorable Mentions-
Kendra Klein for "In the Middle of a Cold Stone Church"
Olivia Kingery for "Unbunioned"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

First Place - Noah Hausmann for "Every Man is a Planet"

Second Place - Maddy Gardiner for "Reconciliation: Relativity"

Third Place - Drew Boggemes for "The Space - A Guided Meditation"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place, Emma Schroeder, "Jusqu'ici Tout Va Bien"

2nd Place, Rabah Gabasha, "Muslim-Jewish Relations in the Dar-al-Islam"

3rd Place, Lucy Meyer-Rasmussen, "Persecution of the Poor"

Honorable Mentions:
Rachel Loftus, "Our Failing Education System"
Hanna Meadows, "Decline of Civility"

Barnard Award

Winners -

Morgan Schmidt for "Inside a Bleeding Mind"
Abigail Zeman for "Masking Disability:  Hypermasculine and Neo-Misogynistic Richard"

Finalists -
Emily Winnell for "Homosociology in Romeo and Juliet"
Lindsey Lancaster for "The Strong One"
Nicholas Shortreed for "'Do No Harm':  An Exploration of Medicine in William Shakespeare's Writings and Modern Filmic Adaptations"

Houston Award         

Winners -

Samantha Peplow for "The King's Speech"
Lilith Kontos for "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"

Finalist -
Virginia Jahr for "Everything Happens for a Reason"
    

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Mariel Murray for "Piccadilly Circus"

Honorable Mentions-
Kendra Klein for "Bad Belly"
Olivia Kingery for "Deer Hanging from the Ceiling"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Macie Mitchell for "On Smells"

Finalist -
Luke Faste for "Babyhead"
Noah Hausmann for "Until the Whistle Blows"
Rachel Grabowski for "For You, I Have Tried"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place, Anthony Ciaramitaro, "The Big Strong Government and the Little Wahatehwe Wa'ipi"

2nd Place, Zak Linczeski, "Nazi Genocide"

3rd Place, Katarina Jerman, "Religious Violence and the Associated Stereotypes"

Barnard Award

Winner - McKenzie Shepherd for "My Tile Floor"

Finalists -
Nick Obradovich for "Cut"
YeWon Park for "Rash"

Houston Award         

Winner - Jaici Shiemke for "Pure Heroin"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Brian Czyzyk for "Bitter Ode"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

1st Place- Anna Daavettila for "A Driving Night"

2nd Place-  Kaitlin Kolhoff for "Halcyon"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place, Danielle Pierre-Trettel, "Gender Identity and Expression and Simone de Beauvoir"

2nd Place, Maggie Rose, "Life In Syrian Refugee Camps"

3rd Place, Meghan Garrett, "Can you hear us now?: Discrimination against the deaf community"

Barnard Award

Winner - Alex Shur for "Another Time's Forgotten Space"

Finalists -

2nd Place - Nicole Grossman for "Protection Against Gray Wolves"

3rd Place - Cheryl Brislin for "Detrimental Effects of Texting on Student's GPA and Well-being"

Houston Award

Winner - Alyssa Younk for "Disgraced: An Analysis of Gender Bias and Sexuality"

Finalists -

2nd Place - Aubrey Kall for "The Charming Diaries"

3rd Place - Olivia Crawford for "Seventy-Eight Million Minutes"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Parker Ameel for  "Be Here to Love Me"

1st Runner-up - Doug Turnbull for "Vulcan Cayembe"

2nd Runner-up - Macie Mitchell for "We Don't Eat"

3rd Runner-up - Maggie Hopp for "Snake in the Garden"

4th Runner-up - Audrey Jazdzyk for "The Feathered Gods"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Kaitlin Kolhoff for "The Bear"

Honorable Mentions - Elizabeth Stieber for "Doves" & Elizabeth Butler for "Through the Dancing"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Prize, Jessica Ulrich, "The Corruption of Standardized Tests (A Genocide of the Mind?)"

2nd Prize, Katelyn Stralkowski, "The Importance of Civility in Modern Society"

3rd Prize, Mark Surrell, "The Genocide of Mental Disability"

Barnard Award

Winner - Ashley Ede for "The Stocking"

Finalists -

2nd Place - Taylor Keiser for "The Duckling"

3rd Place - Christopher Piche Boris for "Extra Cargo"

Houston Award

Winner - Katlin Connin for "Hatchling"

Finalists -

2nd Place - Laken Falewitch for "My Mother's Hands"

3rd Place - Angela Olgren for "What Remains of Ice and Snow"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Audrey Jazdzyk for  "Levon"

1st Runner-up - Jaci Millette for "The Odyssey"

2nd Runner-up - Josh Starbuck for "Lament for the Union on the March to the Sea"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Max Wojciechowski for "The Road of the Tsimshian"

Honorable Mentions - Reannon Dykehouse for "Ring Finger Sorrows" & Kaylie Armbruster for "The First Maiden"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Prize, Tanya Pazdernik, "Local Agency and Individual Initiative in the Evolution of the Holocaust: The Case of Heinrich Himmler"

2nd Prize, Danielle Morrison, "Captive Companions"

3rd Prize, Christian Tauriainen, "The Ethics of Inequality"

Barnard Award

Winner - Taylor Smith for"Radiance"

Finalists -

Benjamin Greenwald for "The Hunter Becomes the Hunted"

Tevra Boris for "To Cross or not to Cross"

Houston Award

Winner - Thomas Ian Beddows for "Formal Report: Summary of Scientific Research Concerning Trientalis borealis"

Finalists -   Alesha Bartlett for "The Tale of Two Dallards" & Dorthy Anderson for "Groundhog Day"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Josh Starbuck for "An American Dream"

1st Runner-up - Willow Grosz for "Up It Went"

2nd Runner-up - Grace Makley for "To a Place I've Been"

3rd Runner-up - Katelyn Durst for "The Lament of the Ex-Mennonite Farms in Lancaster & Franklin Counties"

4th Runner-up - Abbegail Hoye for "The little things I can't keep here."

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Bradley Aleman for "The Santa Truth"

Finalists -  Reannon Dykehouse for "Halls for a King"

Josey Bonini-Aalto for "Love, Pills, & Wintertime"

Hannah Schug for "Daughter, or:  If My Parents Had Never Gotten It On"

Russell Pierce for "How to get spent"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Prize, Grace Renwand, "The Experience of the Deaf During the Holocaust"

2nd Prize, John Schimek, "Tolerance and Hospitality: the Key to Religious Plurality"

3rd Prize, Irene McCauley, "White Noise"

Barnard Student Writing Award

Winner
Kristy Schwiderson for "A Symbol of Love; Past, Present, & Future"

Finalists:
Amanda Hardy for "One Lightening Symphony"
Grace Larkin for "With Angelic Help"

Houston Student Writing Award

Winner
A. Michael Jacoby for "A Nightingale Cries"

Finalists:
Josey Bonini-Aalto for "Reflections of War's Brutish Reality in Johnny Got His Gun"
Kimmie Conrad for "The Farm"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner
Maxwell Peterson for "Morning Deer"

1st Runner up - Paige Anteau for "Under the Influence of Calm"
2nd Runner up - Ian Girard for "(a Tanka)"
3rd Runner up - Doug Turnbull for "Johnny Hurt"
4th Runner up - Rachel Hare for "Old Tenants"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner Reannon Dykehouse for "Las Abuelas"

Finalists:
Kiah Watson for "After the Probe"
Abbegail Hoye for "They've Disappeared"
Rachel Dunne for "An Adventure"
Rachel Wendels for "Third Time's a Charm"
Jessica Krueger for "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

The Lois and Willard Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place
Shauna Neshek for "Morality: The Bigfoot of Theory"

2nd Place
Kassondra Hendricks for "Eradication of “race”"

3rd Place
Benjamin Scheelk for "Finding Common Ground"

Barnard Award

Winner - Jacqueline Carroll for her essay "Oh Me, Oh Michelangelo"

Finalists -
Naysa Anderson for "Sooner"
Stacie Davidson for "Sunday-Best"

Houston Award

Winner - Reannon Dykehouse for her essay "Irishmen"

Finalists -
Hannah Cotton for "Tuesday Evening"
Shauna Neshek for "American Untouchables"

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner - Hannah Schug for her poem "Limbo is a bus station"

1st Runner-up - Courtney DePottey for her untitled poem
2nd Runner-up - Jeremy Vavrik for "Walking Home"
3rd Runner-up - Jessica Parker for "Fireflies"

VandeZande Fiction Prize

Winner - Jessica Parker for her story "An is to a was"

Finalists -

Maxwell Peterson for "Fisgard and the Boy"
Stacy Milbourn for "Snow"
Tracy Pickering for "A Roving, Solitary Thing"
Rachel Wendels for "Moldy Milk"
Cameron Witbeck for "The Rifle Line"

Cohodas Literary Prize

1st Place - Tracy Pickering for her essay "The Romani"

2nd Place - Kylynn Perdue-Bronson for her essay "Chain of Evidence"

3rd Place - Hailey Heikkinen for her essay "Abandon Ship Before It's Too Late and All This Love I have Will Turn to Hate"

Barnard Award Winner

Erin Sikkema for her paper "A Before E"

Barnard Award Finalists -
Aaron Sarka
Maegan Hoard
Kelly Chandler

Houston Award Winner

Molly Anderson for her paper "The Lengths That I Will Go To"

Houston Award Finalists -
Angela Carter
Ellary Renier
Karen Rudisill

Legler Poetry Award

Cameron Witbeck for his poem "Post Partum"

Legler Honorable Mentions
Tom Rich
Maxwell Peterson

VandeZande Fiction Prize Winner

Tom Rich for his story "The Captain of Artillery"

VandeZande Honorable Mentions
L.J. Geoffrion
Matt Mallum

Cohodas Literary Prize Winners

First Place
Cameron Witbeck for his paper "What can Students do to Combat Prejudice?"

Second Place
Rachael Shoemaker for her paper "Loss of Innocence"

Third Place
Lisa Geoffrion for her paper "Color Blind"

Barnard Award Winner

Elizabeth Dirkse (right) for her paper "Tia Liz"

Barnard Award Runners-Up
Alayna Sobieniak
Douglas Straka

Houston Award Winner

Nolan Jensen (left) for his paper "Make Yourself"

Houston Award Runners-UP
Jessica Parker
Jessica Wilson

Legler Memorial Poetry Prize

Winner, “For Little Jude,” by Michala Hansen

Finalist, "Abracadabra," Cameron Witbeck

Finalist, "City," by Tom Rich

VandeZande Fiction Prize Winners

Winner, “How to Find a Three-legged Dog,” by Jaime VanEnkevort

Finalist, “Pancakes,” by Michala Hansen

Finalist, “Cartoon-Worthy,” by Alaina Vandermissen

Finalist, "Birth Control," by Stefan Mittelbrunn

Cohodas Literary Prize

First Prize, “On the Possibility of Tolerant Religion,” by David Hilden

Second Prize, “The Socratic Hero,” by Derek O’Connell

Third Prize, “Worldview Debate and the Tolerance of Ideas,” by Patrick Arnold

Cohodas Literary Prize Winners

First Place - Stephanie Frenzel for "American Jewish Prisoners of War in World War II"

Second Place - Janna Fox for "I Have 6,577,171,412 Brothers and Sisters"

Third Place - Megan Allen for "The Medical Ethos of the Third Reich"