Essay Contest
We are pleased to announce the 2022 First-Year Summer Reading Essay Contest, open
to all members of Illinois Wesleyan University’s Class of 2026. The general topic
of the essay is our Summer Reading selection,
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
You will have the opportunity to discuss this selection during Turning Titan: New
Student Orientation 2022, take part in programming for this year’s intellectual theme
"The Power of Place," and hear the voices of our University community, but the discussion
stands incomplete without the most important voice of all—your voice, the many voices
of the individuals who are Illinois Wesleyan University’s Class of 2026.
Prize
The winner of the essay contest will win a $200 IWU Bookstore Gift Card and will be announced and recognized at New Student Convocation on August 24, 2022.
Entry Criteria
Submissions must be 600-800 words typed/double-spaced, with 12-point font, and 1-inch margins. The first page of your essay (no cover pages please) should have your full name in the upper left corner and a title centered over the text. Each subsequent page should have your last name and the page number in the upper right corner (e.g., Smith-2).
Please send your submission as an email attachment to advising@iwu.edu by 4pm (CST) on Friday, August 12, 2022. Essays should be submitted in pdf format.
Prompt
Please select one of the following prompts as a guide for your essay. We are not, however, asking simply for an answer to the prompt; instead we are looking for a coherent, intelligent, and logically organized essay that stems from your reading of Where the Crawdads Sing and related reflections.
-
The Illinois Wesleyan annual theme for the 2022-2023 academic year is "The Power of
Place."
Identify specific ways in which the book addresses each aspect of the theme, “The
Power of Place."
- How might this novel’s themes and ideas apply to a current social issue?
Previous Winners
2021
First Prize: Health and Hope by Abbie Graue '25
Honorable Mention: Lead Poisoning and A Deadly Virus: Two Wakeup Calls for A Nation by Melinda Burgin '25
2020
First Prize:
Acceptable Losses
by Mars Mulvin '24
Honorable Mention:
The Holy Trinity b
y Anusha Bhojanam
'24
Honorable Mention: Ignoring the Cries of the People by Albert Sterner '24
2019
First Prize: A Multitude of Truths by Elise Damasco '23
Honorable Mention: The Innocence of the Innocent by Shivam Dharmendra Patel '23
2018
First Prize: The Power of Transformation by Jared Schneider '22
Honorable Mention: Girl in a Boy Body: The Complexity of Being Oneself
by Amanda Smith '22
Honorable Mention: Parallel Transitions of American Towns and Families
by Kathryn Vogler '22
2017
First Prize: The Manufacturing of the MENA Race by Gabrielle Ghaderi '21
Honorable Mention: Sibling Worlds by David Nicolas Lopez Moncayo '21
Honorable Mention:
The Manmade Construct of Race by Tatum Zsorey '21
2016
First Prize: Differences Between Afghan and American Gender Politics: Subtle Versus Blatant Sexism,
and Both Their Dangers by Mary Amanda Breeden '20
Honorable Mention: Global Feminism: A Comparison of Gender Roles in Afghanistan and the United States by Alexa Letourneau '20
Honorable Mention:
Endless Possibilities Await by Naing Lin Tun '20
2015
First Prize: Still a Jerk by Benjamin Alan Zentner '19
Honorable Mention: Between Two Worlds
by Emma Marie Haan '19
Honorable Mention:
The Complexity of Balance by Kathryn Anne Halford '19
Please visit Digital Commons @ IWU to read the prize-winning essays.