The Program in Creative Writing at UW-Madison is pleased to announce this year’s undergraduate and graduate scholarship prize recipients. These awards were announced in person, at the Madison Public Library, on May 4, 2023. We want you to know how proud we are of each of you—not just those who won prizes, and not just those who submitted, but every student who sat in our classrooms, or who logged into Canvas and Zoom this year. Whether or not you received an award, we hope you’ll remember that your words and your creativity matter. If you know some of this year’s winners, please take a moment today to reach out to them in whatever way you can, to extend your congratulations.
Charles M. Hart Jr. Writers of Promise Awards
Established in 1993 by Janet Hart and named for her son, who won a George B. Hill Poetry Prize the year before he passed away, the Charles M. Hart Jr. Writers of Promise Awards are meant to encourage emerging writers from our ENGL 207 introductory poetry and fiction workshops.
Hannah DeGuzman — First Place — $500
Han Raschka — Second Place — $200
Ella Olson — Third Place — $100
Diya Abbas — Honorable Mention — $50
Emma Altschul — Honorable Mention — $50
Tara Awate — Honorable Mention — $50
The Phillip H. Wang Memorial Prize in Poetry
Established in 2020, the Phillip H. Wang Memorial Prize in Poetry is the largest prize we award for a sampling of three poems written by an undergraduate student. The prize honors Phillip Wang, who received his B.A in English at UW-Madison and passed away in 2019. The Phillip H. Wang Memorial Prize in Poetry is funded by Phillip’s memorial foundation, which was created by his family to encourage self-expression and exploration of difficult topics through poetry. The prize is often given to an applicant who submits an audio recording of their poems, in addition to the required written sample, because Phillip enjoyed the spoken-word aspect of poetry. To learn more about the life and work of Phillip Wang, including audio recordings of Phillip’s poetry, we encourage you to visit philliphwangmemorialfoundation.com.
Azura Tyabji — First Place — $1,000
Diya Abbas — Runner-Up — $500
George B. Hill Poetry Prizes
2023 marks the 72nd year we’ve awarded the George B. Hill Poetry Prizes, which were created by former Brachs Candy Company president Theodore Stempfel, in memory of his dear friend and former UW-Madison classmate George Bradbury Hill.
Madeline Mitchell — First Place — $400
Nuha Dolby — Second Place — $300
Maria Freese — Honorable Mention — $100
Claire Friedlander — Honorable Mention — $100
Roshnie Rupnarian — Honorable Mention — $100
Henry Douglas Mackaman Undergraduate Writer’s Award
For eight years now, the Henry Douglas Mackaman Undergraduate Writer’s Award has been our largest prize for a single story written by an undergraduate at UW-Madison. The story of Henry Mackaman is both joyous and sad: he was one of UW’s most promising young writers, as well as a guitarist, a lyricist, and a beloved brother and son, who died unexpectedly from bacterial meningitis in 2013. Henry’s family and friends set up this prize in his honor, awarding at least $1,000 every year, in perpetuity. To learn more about the life and work of Henry Mackaman, we encourage you to visit henrymackaman.com.
Bess Henshaw — $1,000
Therese Muller Fiction & Creative Nonfiction Prizes
2023 marks the 72nd year we’ve awarded the Therese Muller Fiction Prizes, and the third year we’ve awarded the Therese Muller Nonfiction Prizes. Both were named for a teacher of literature and law, famous francophile, and favorite daughter of Sauk City, who graduated from UW in 1912. Like the Henry Douglas Mackaman Undergraduate Writer’s Award, the Therese Muller Fiction Prizes were judged by James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow Claire Luchette. The Therese Muller Nonfiction Prizes were judged by Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow Itiola (I.S.) Jones.
Madeline Mitchell — First Place (F) — $500
Jackson Wyatt — Second Place (F) — $250
Natalie Bercutt — Honorable Mention (F) — $100
Sam Downey — Honorable Mention (F) — $100
McKayla Murphy — Honorable Mention (F) — $100
Shailaja Singh — Honorable Mention (F) — $100
AJ Johnson — First Place (CNF) — $1,000
Nuha Dolby — Second Place (CNF) — $500
Ria Dhingra — Third Place (CNF) — $250
Natalie Bercutt — Honorable Mention (CNF) — $100
McKayla Murphy — Honorable Mention (CNF) — $100
Ronald Wallace Poetry Thesis Prize
The Ronald Wallace Poetry Thesis Prize is named for and funded by the founder of our program, who spent 43 years of his life establishing UW as one of the foremost undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate creative writing programs in the United States, before his retirement in 2015. :
Zachary Lesmeister, for the manuscript Aggot — $1,000
Eudora Welty Fiction Thesis Prize
The Eudora Welty Fiction Thesis Prize was established 32 years ago by Jane Perrin, to honor one of America’s most distinguished and revered fiction writers, whose accolades include a National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Nobel Prize nomination, and most prestigious of all: a Bachelor of Arts degree from UW-Madison.
Dana Brandt, for fiction manuscript titled The Wake — $1,000
Cy Howard Memorial Scholarship Thesis Prize
The Cy Howard Memorial Scholarship Thesis Prize was established by Barbara Howard, a great friend to UW-Madison’s Program in Creative Writing. The Prize honors her husband Cy, who was a UW graduate and a writer for film and television. The Howard Thesis Prize can go to any genre: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenplays, dramatic monologues… the list goes on.
Aidan Aragon, for the poetry manuscript Hard to Love — $1,000
Richard Knowles & Jerome Stern Teaching Awards
Each year, the Program in Creative Writing celebrates the teaching expertise of its MFA candidates in poetry and fiction, through two prizes. The Richard Knowles Teaching Award is named for Professor Emeritus Dick Knowles, who taught creative writing at UW long before the creative writing program even existed. The Knowles Award acknowledges excellence in the instruction of “ENGL 207: Intro to Creative Writing.” But our MFA candidates also teach composition courses at UW, so in addition to the Knowles Award we also give out the Jerome Stern Teaching Award for excellence in the instruction of ENGL 100: Intro to College Composition. This second prize is named for a longtime professor, writer, editor, radio personality, bon vivant, and friend to UW, Jerome Stern. This year, the Creative Writing Steering Committee selected the following recipients:
Jackie Chalghin — Knowles Teaching Award — $500
Megan Kim — Stern Teaching Award — $500
Johanna Garfield Award in Nonfiction Creative Writing
Awarding $2,500 for an essay that draws from the author’s personal experience, the Johanna Garfield Award in Nonfiction Creative Writing was established in 2020 to honor Johanna Garfield, whose articles and essays appear in The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Paris Review, Newsday, Ms., and many other prestigious publications. This year the award goes to one of our MFA candidates in fiction:
Aeron Parks, for “Arches” — $2,500
August Derleth Graduate Creative Writing Prize
The Derleth Prize is named for a beloved Wisconsin native who authored hundreds of books comprising every genre imaginable—fiction, poetry, nonfiction, plays, etc.—though August Derleth is perhaps most famous today for being the first book publisher of H. P. Lovecraft. The prize goes to “students demonstrating special interest in Wisconsin regional literature, or one of the other writing genres to which August Derleth contributed.” The Program in Creative Writing is pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s August Derleth Graduate Creative Writing Prize is:
Nitya Gupta, for the story “How to Break Up with Your Husband” — $2,500
William W. Marr Graduate Prize in Creative Writing
Established seven years ago by the family of renowned poet, writer, artist, nuclear engineer, and UW alumnus Dr. William Marr (who publishes under the name Fei Ma), this prize acknowledges excellence among UW-Madison’s MFA candidates in creative writing. The Program in Creative Writing is pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s William W. Marr Graduate Scholarship Prize in Creative Writing is:
Renee Lepreau, for the story “On the Day You Were Born” and other poems — $2,500