Awards and Honors

Samuel Bancroft, Jr. Memorial Prizes

The Samuel Bancroft, Jr. Memorial Prizes, recognize outstanding personal compositions written for the English 110 class. The selection process involves nomination by First-Year Program faculty, with anonymous review by a committee of the department of English faculty.

Anna Janney DeArmond Memorial Scholarships

Established by an anonymous donor in honor of Prof. Janney DeArmond, this annual scholarship recognizes an English major from Delaware who has demonstrated academic merit and financial need.

Allen Friedman Memorial Scholarships

The annual Friedman scholarship recognizes an English student who has demonstrated academic merit and financial need.

Gregory Family Celebration of Creative Writing Awards

Through the generous support of the Gregory Family, the Department of English hosts a celebration of writing each spring, in conjunction with the annual publication of UD's student literary magazine, Caesura. The celebration includes the presentation of six awards: two Elda Wollaeger Gregory Poetry Prizes; the Thomas W. Molyneux Fiction Award; the Thomas W. Molyneux Creative Non-Fiction Award; Academy of American Poets Harold Taylor Award; and the Caesura Art Award.

Margaret Tindall Award

The Margaret Tindall Award is presented every year by the department of English to its graduating English Major with the highest cumulative grade-point average.

Edward H. Rosenberry Undergraduate Writing Awards

Established by the late Professor Emeritus Edward H. Rosenberry, the Rosenberry Undergraduate Writing Awards recognize excellence in writing. The goal of these awards is to promote that good writing matters, and that it matters to everyone.

Outstanding Student/Teacher in English Education

The Outstanding Student/Teacher recognizes the special promise demonstrated in becoming an exceptional secondary English teacher and is given annually by each secondary education program at the University of Delaware to a top graduate in their teacher education major.

George Henry Memorial Award

Established by a bequest of Professor George Henry, a Delaware educator who began his career in 1926 as a high school teacher in Lewes and later served as principal of Dover High School, the George Henry Memorial Award honors strong performance in student teaching and an interest in teaching secondary English in Delaware public schools.
 

Secondary Education Award for Educational Promise

This Secondary Education Award for Educational Promise is given to students who have taken EDUC413, EDUC414 or EDUC419 and who have demonstrated exceptional potential as future educators.

Award Recipients

Caitlyn Kirk and Teagan McDonough are the Outstanding Student/Teachers in English Education, an award that recognizes the special promise demonstrated in becoming an exceptional secondary English teacher. The Outstanding Student/Teacher award is given annually by each program at the University of Delaware to top graduates in their teacher education major. Caitlyn and Teagan were selected for this award by the English Education faculty and field instructors on the basis of their consistently outstanding professional practice over the past academic year, from courses through student teaching. They have demonstrated strong classroom practice and professionalism, planned and implemented exceptional lessons, developed admirable rapport with students and colleagues, and incorporated suggestions and new ideas, all of which has made them dynamic classroom teachers.​

Anna Sellers received the George Henry Memorial Award, which honors successful teacher candidates who show great promise of becoming exceptional secondary English teachers in Delaware public schools. The award was established in 1991 by a bequest of Professor George Henry, a long-time Delaware educator who began his career in 1926 as a high school teacher in Lewes and later served as principal of Dover High School. As a member of the University of Delaware faculty, he became a nationally known scholar and teacher in the field of English Education. Because of his strong commitment to English Education and to the Delaware schools, he left a bequest to establish the award. Anna's outstanding performance as a student/teacher and determination to teach in Delaware schools are recognized through this award​.

 

Josefa Castelli won the Delaware Association of School Administrators Award.  The award is presented to a graduating senior in a teacher education program who has demonstrated outstanding qualities of scholarship, leadership and character and who gives promise of making a meaningful contribution to the teaching profession.  This award is given annually at the University of Delaware to one of the top graduates in all of the teacher education majors. Josefa was nominated for this award by the English Education faculty and chosen by the University Council on Teacher Education awards committee on the basis of her consistently outstanding professional practice over her academic career, in courses and in her student teaching.  She has demonstrated strong course performance, outstanding leadership, consummate professionalism, and a noteworthy dedication to the profession.  

Kelsey Bennett and Grace Stuart received the Secondary Education Award for Educational Promise. This award is given to students who have taken EDUC413, EDUC414 or EDUC419. The winners have demonstrated exceptional potential as future educators. They were selected for this award by the School of Education faculty members who teach the EDUC core classes. They note that awardees have exhibited "excellent understanding" about diverse groups of adolescent learners, professional dispositions, and promising teaching practices in EDUC413, EDUC414 and/or EDUC419. Kelsey and Grace were two of only six students selected for the award this year across all of the secondary teacher education programs.​

ARAK Award

The Arak Journal, an annual anthology of student writing from the past year ENGL 110 class.

Mr. Sydney F. Arak and Ms. Ruth Toor, University of Delaware alumni, have funded celebrate student writing. They established an award in honor of their parents, John and Frieda Arak.

More than 4,000 students enroll in English 110, our required first-year writing course each year. Students with outstanding essays are encouraged to submit their papers for consideration for the Arak Award. 

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A committee of ENGL 110 instructors reads the nominees' work and selects the winners. Students who receive the Arak Award have their essays published online in the Arak Journal, an annual anthology of student writing from the past year's ENGL 110 class. Winners also receive a monetary prize. 

Encouraging the writing skills of a diverse college student body is vitally important. The Department of English is deeply grateful for the Arak family's ongoing support of our work in doing so.

Eligibility:

  • Only current students of the University of Delaware are eligible to participate.
  • Essays must be written during and for the student's ENGL 110 class.
  • Registered ENGL 110 students may submit one entry only.

Submissions must be received by January 10 of the year following the student's enrollment in ENGL 110, e.g. essays written during 2023 courses must be submitted by January 10, 2024.

Submission Instructions:

  • The essay document should not include any student name or other identifying information (class section, instructor's name).
  • All essays must have a title noted on the first page of the essay.
  • The essay format must include page numbers and a header on each page consisting of the essay title or a shortened version of the title.
  • The essay must also include a complete works cited page in MLA format.
  • Essays are emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to arak-awards@udel.edu . The email, not the essay, should include:
    1. Student's Name
    2. Title of Essay
    3. Semester and Year ENGL 110 completed (example: Fall, 2022)
    4. Name of ENGL 110 Instructor
    5. Student's permanent home address and campus or local, off-campus address
    6. Permanent home phone number and cell phone number
  • Submitting an essay indicates a student's agreement that the essay was written for an ENGL 110 class at the University of Delaware and is entirely the student's own work. If the essay receives a prize, the student gives the University Composition Program permission to publish the essay in th​e Arak Journal. Editors of the anthology may ask that a student revise the essay before publication. Editors also reserve the right to edit student essays. Winning the Arak Award and publication is contingent upon possible revision and satisfactory source checking by the Arak editorial staff.
  • If an essay is chosen as a finalist, editors will ask students for a "source packet." This packet consists of copies of all sources used in the essay (printouts of articles, scans of book pages, etc). If a student is in doubt about what should be included in a source packet, he/she should ask an English instructor or the Associate Director of the Composition Program. 
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