Stevie Jeung won in the essay category for “ ‘I Did Not Get My Spaghetti-O’s’: Death Row Consumption in the Popular Media.” (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo)
Excerpts by winners
‘I don’t want to be Barbie. I want to benchpress her’ by Michelle Jones
Depression in college students by Alissa Steiner
‘I did not get my Spaghetti-O’s’ by Stevie Jeung
A race against time: an overview of Progeria and its clinical symptoms by Kyle Davis
‘Being published in Prized Writing has made me take my writing more seriously, and think of it as more than just something I do for a grade in college.’
Charlie Wilson, Prized Writing winner
At UC Davis, writing isn’t just for English majors
Aggie athletes have their NCAA championships; civil engineers have their concrete canoe competition.
For the University Writing Program, the signature event is Prized Writing, now in its 20th year.
This fall alone, the contest drew 332 submissions of essays and technical papers (all had their origins as assignments in undergraduate academic courses). The 23 winners received a cash prize, a certificate, public recognition at a fall awards reception — and the thrill of having their work appear in Prized Writing 2007-2008. The anthology is on sale at the UC Davis Bookstore and will be used as a text in composition courses.
Students from physics and genetics, American studies and art, film studies and queer studies entered this year’s contest. The multidisciplinary nature of the pool is no fluke: The University Writing Program’s mission is to ensure that all UC Davis students leave campus with the skills they need to write — with clarity and style — about their chosen fields.
Professionals who can communicate
The program aims to produce computer engineers who can communicate with computer users, doctors who can explain treatments to the lay public, and social scientists who can make their work come alive on the printed page.
U.S. News & World Report recently recognized UC Davis as one of just 23 universities nationwide that “make writing a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum.”
Davis-based novelist John Lescroart is also a fan. Lescroart has donated money to support Student Author Events on campus, at which prized writers read their work and talk about their writing process before campus audiences. The next event will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2009, in 126 Voorhies Hall.
The publication and the contest began in 1989 as the brainchild of a few lecturers in the composition program who envisioned a way to showcase the excellent writing done by students at UC Davis across the curriculum. The first volume was published in fall 1990, with 12 essays chosen from submissions in the 1989-90 academic year.
How it works
Every year, students from across campus are invited to submit papers they’ve written for UC Davis undergraduate courses to the Prized Writing contest. Jan. 30, 2009 is the submission deadline for papers written during summer and fall 2008. April 30, 2009, will be the deadline for papers written in winter 2009. For papers written in spring 2009, it will be June 10, 2009.
Each June, a group of volunteer faculty gathers for a full day of judging essays. Each piece, with name and identifying information removed, is read and scored twice. Top-scoring pieces are then read two more times, and the highest-scoring pieces comprise the finalists.
About half of the finalists are typically published in Prized Writing; the rest are awarded honorable mention. The 2008-2009 anthology will be published in fall 2009.
Relevance and inspiration
Prized Writing is not only a showcase for excellent student writing; it’s also a teaching tool. Instructors have used Prized Writing in a wide range of lower-and upper-division courses, from first-year journalism to science and engineering class.
“It’s a valuable tool,” says Pamela Demory. “For one thing, students like it. They find it ‘relevant’ — the pieces are written by students just like them, sometimes by people they know, and they often concern issues that particularly interest them. They also like it because the pieces often help them understand assignments and the criteria for good writing. And some of them like it because it gives them inspiration to submit their own work.”
Students give the experience rave reviews. “Being accepted into PW definitely gave me a confidence boost with regard to my writing,” says Charlie Wilson, a past winner. ‘Being published in PW has made me take my writing more seriously, and think of it as more than just something I do for a grade in college.”
“I’ve always been writing and dictating as long as I can remember-working from student publications for poetry and editorials to my own projects and ‘zines-but finally being published in a collegiate journal … that seemed so much more professional,” says another, Lisa Lee. “I do not plan to stop here.”
Benchpressing Barbie, tackling depression
To read all of this year’s winning essays, buy Prized Writing 2007-2008 at the campus book store or wait until the anthology is posted on the Prized Writing web site. Excerpts of four essays from the book are available above in the box:
- “ ‘I did Not Get My Spaghetti-O’s’: Death Row Consumption in the Popular Media,” by American Studies student Stevie Jeung, was a winner in the essay category.
- “A Race Against Time: An Overview of Progeria and Its Clinical Symptoms,” written by Kyle Davis, now a first-year medical student at UC Davis, won in the scientific and technical paper category.
- In “Depression in College Students,” journalism student Alissa Steiner recounts the 2006 suicide of a family friend and fellow UC Davis student, summarizes the available research on depression in college students, and discusses the counseling services available at UC Davis.
- In “ ‘I Don’t Want to Be Barbie, I Want to Benchpress Her,’ The Lifestyle of a Female Bodybuilder,” journalism student Michelle Jones introduces her readers to one of the most popular instructors on the UC Davis campus: Andrea Khoo, a physical education lecturer whose kickboxing, interval toning and group weightlifting classes often have waitlists of more than 100.
A broader sample, winning papers dating back to 1989, are available on the Prized Writing Web site.