With great excitement, the Duke University English Department celebrates the winners of its 2026 writing contests. Each year, the department shines a spotlight on outstanding fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and critical writing by both English majors and undergraduates from across the university.
FICTION
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction
Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry.
(Co-Winners) - Davis Shedd, '27 - Daddy, Daddy and Audie Waller, '28 - Better Than Talking
Reynolds Price Fiction Award
The Reynolds Price Fiction Award was established in memory of the distinguished novelist, essayist, poet, and public intellectual Reynolds Price, a graduate of Duke and professor in the English Department for over 50 years.
Sarah Pusser, '28 - Hold Me Mother
CREATIVE NONFICTION
George P. Lucaci Creative Nonfiction Award
This award was created to encourage creative nonfiction writing and honor George P. Lucaci, a former Duke student who has actively supported undergraduate creative writing in the English Department for many years.
1st Place - Vivian Lu, '29 - A Century of Clicks
2nd Place (Co-winners) - Arim Lim, '26 - River and Debbie Wang, '28 - My First Boyfriend
POETRY
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry
Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry.
1st Place - Adolya Moore, '26 - picket fences
2nd Place - Zhiyuan Mark Ma, '26 - Hesitation: Six Poems
Terry Welby Tyler, Jr Award for Poetry
This award was established by the family of Terry Welby Tyler, Jr., who would have graduated with the class of 1997 to recognize and honor outstanding undergraduate poetry.
Matthew Chen, '26 - There was a blackout in the city and I could not find you
Academy of American Poets
Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization advocating for American poets and poetry. Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and foster contemporary poetry appreciation.
1st Place - Emerson Eickhold, '28 - The Periphery of Infancy
Honorable Mention – Ava Williams, '28 - Kaleidoscope
Creative Writing Scholarship Awards
Frances Pemberton Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to a junior or senior pursuing creative writing studies. It was created by the Trustees of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation in memory and honor of Francis Pemberton's service to the Biddle Foundation.
Imogen Rawlings-Green, ‘26
Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship
Given annually to a female student who demonstrates a particular promise in creative writing, this scholarship was established to recognize the untiring efforts of Margaret Rose Knight Sanford on behalf of Duke University.
Vanessa Gomez, ‘26 & Ava Williams, ‘28
William Blackburn Scholarship
Created in 1962 by students and friends of Professor William Blackburn (1899-1969), who established the creative writing initiative at Duke, this scholarship recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of creative writing.
Sarah Pusser, ‘28, Riley Reeves, ‘26, & Rani Teddy, ‘26
Critical Essay & Department Awards
Stanley E. Fish Award for Outstanding Work in British & Anglophone Literature
This award recognizes outstanding work by an undergraduate enrolled in an English course in British Literature.
Lily Egol, '26 - Learning Life from Novel Reading: Quixotism and Education in Eighteenth-Century Women’s Writing
(Honorable Mention) Taylor Delgado ‘26 - The (Artificial) Lover: Kazuo Ishiguro & Ian McEwan’s Pursuit of Resonance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Louis J. Budd Award for Outstanding Work in American Literature
This award recognizes outstanding work by an undergraduate enrolled in an English course in American Literature.
Trisha Santanam, '26 - American Folk
(Honorable Mention) Anna Sorenson ‘26 -Moral Crimes, Intimate Cruelties: Judging Sexuality in Postwar American Literature
Barbara Herrnstein Smith Award for Outstanding Work in Literary Theory
This award recognizes outstanding work by an undergraduate enrolled in an English course in literary theory or criticism.
Sophia Berg, '26 - The Fall of the West: A Númenórean Anatomy of a Neo-Fascist Power
(Honorable Mention) Thulsy Krishnan ‘26 - Metaphors About Nature: Charles Darwin and Suzanne Simard
Victor Strandberg Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts
This award, made possible by the Seinfeld family, recognizes an undergraduate for excellence in the literary arts.
(Co-winners) Rebecca Arian, '26 and Megan O’Sullivan, '26
Most Original Thesis
This award recognizes a senior student for writing the most original honors thesis.
Erin Lee, '26 - Losers, Lovers, and Loners: Internet Identities and Parasocial Relationships in Esther Yi’s Y/N and Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection
Critical Essay Prize
Each year Duke English sponsors a critical essay competition that is open for essays written by any Duke undergraduate enrolled in an English department course. Submissions must be critical essays of nonfiction produced for a class during the current academic year in which the student is enrolled.
Olivia Ess, '28 - Punishing Need: Gender and Dependence in the Early Modern Period and Today
Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize
Awarded annually by the Program in Literature to recognize the best senior honors thesis in literary study each spring. Faculty nominate annually in early April.
Diego Romero Laje-Davila, '26 - Reading Choice in Simone de Beauvoir through Iris Murdoch