Congratulations to all winners of Caltech undergraduate writing prizes in the humanities!
Alexander P. and Adelaide F. Hixon Prize for Writing in Freshman Humanities
Established in 2000 by Alexander P. and Adelaide F. Hixon, the Hixon Prize for Writing is awarded to an undergraduate student for the best composition in a freshman humanities course. The prize recipient is chosen by a humanities committee in conjunction with the Hixon Writing Center.
Diego Olaya, "The Spectre of Race" (2019)
Galilea von Ruden, "Why the Turing Test Revised Is Still the Turing Test" (2018)
Crystal Liang, "Why Was The Feminine Mystique Such a Phenomenon?: A Clarification" (2017)
Gideon Leeper, "Empiricism and Mathematical Knowledge" (2016)
Gordon McClure Memorial Communications Prize
The Gordon McClure Memorial Communications Prize is awarded by the humanities faculty to undergraduate students for excellence in written and oral communication skills.
2019 Winners
English: Crystal Liang, “Recollected Sanity”
History: George Daghlian “A History of Budgetary Politics in the United States”
Philosophy: Nishad Maskara “Electromagnetism is Time Reversible and the Magnetic Field is a Dynamical Condition”
2018 Winners
English: Maitreyi Nair, "An Exploration of Letter-Writing in Jane Austen's Work"
History: Tara Shankar, "Why Cervantes' History is His Story"
Philosophy: Jonathan Chan, "Moral Distinctions Between Passive and Active Euthanasia"
2017 Winners
English: Zofii Kaczmarek, "Gaudy Night Essay"
History: Christina Lin, "The Rhetoric of Change"
Philosophy: Kshitij Grover, "Living with Sisyphus"
2016 Winners
English: Suchita Nety, “Feminine Intellectual Fertility in the Writing of Christine de Pizan”
History: Leo Balestri, “Fifty Years of Dividing Lines”
Philosophy: William Hoza, "A Can of Worms"
Mary A. Earl McKinney Prize in Literature
The Mary A. Earl McKinney Prize in Literature was established in 1946 by Samuel P. McKinney, M.D., of Los Angeles. Its purpose is to promote proficiency in writing. The terms under which it is given are decided each year by the literature faculty; it may be awarded for essays submitted in connection with regular literature classes or on the basis of a special essay contest.
2019 Winners
Poetry: Maria De Angelis, “When I Learned to Be Meek”
Prose: Mohar Chatterjee’s “Prodigal”
2018 Winners
Poetry: Laura Hu, " Image of a Dragonfly"
Prose: Timothy Liu, "iLost: A tale for our Time"
2017 Winners
Poetry: Karen Pham, "on loving a falling star"
Prose: Daniel McAndrew, "Insect Sisyphus"
2016 Winners
Poetry: Matthew Lim, "Encounter"
Prose: Sirus Han, "Silent Goodbyes"
Hallet Smith Prize
The Hallett Smith Prize was established in 1997 to commemorate Professor Smith's long career as one of this century's most distinguished Renaissance scholars. The cash prize is awarded by the literature faculty to a student who writes the finest essay on Shakespeare.
2019 Winner
Brendan Holloway “Impassioned Love and Marriage in Shakespeare’s Comedies”
2018 Winner
Reeti Gulati, "The Rose of Human Emotion and Character in Shakespeare's Othello vs. God and Heaven in Cinthio's "A Moorish Captain"
2017 Winners
Gauri Shastri, "The Women of Othello: Shakespeare's Reinterpretation of "A Moorish Captain"
Suchita Nety, "Objects of Interpretation in Othello"