Awards – English

Announcing the 2025 English Department Scholarship and Award Recipients

morinm — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:16:13 +0000

The English Department is excited to announce the 2025 recipients of the Department’s various scholarships and awards. You can view descriptions and qualifications on the Awards and Scholarships page.

Department Scholarships and Awards

The Frank G. and Nicole McGuire Scholarship:��James Diamond

The Bessie Saslaw Solomon Memorial Scholarship:��Victony Garcia

The Shari Kandell Scholarship: Jordan Newbury

The W. Leonard Newman Award:��Julia Abata

The Bernard Fleischmann Memorial Award:��Faith Monesteri

The Elizabeth Dean Eler Memorial Award: Miranda Kawiecki

The English Department Teacher Education Award:��Menen Gowdie

The Anthony Lovasco Shakespeare Award: Jenny Both

The Murray Prosky Prize in Irish Literature: Cailin Carragher

The Janet Holt scholarship:��Miranda Kawiecki

The Vivien L. Kwiatek Scholarship: Jacob Kaczorowski, Andres Lopez, Annette Torres Moya, Ptissem Assou, Natalie Mignanelli, Samantha Granados, Debbie Martinez

Graduate Scholarships and Awards

The Mary Bondon Graduate Scholarship: Faith Monesteri

The Lawrence H. Conrad Memorial Scholarship: Briana Tolbert-Fitzgerald

Creative Writing Awards

Johnny Muller Memorial Scholarship in Fiction

First place: Kate McKeever – “Wax Fruit”
Second Place: Kaitlyn McCarthy – “Palm to Palm”

Tom Benediktsson Award for Poetry

Winner: Josephine Estes – “Eponym Driving,” “Laps,” and “Diary,”
Runner-up: Sophie LeManquais – “Predispositional,” “Road Thoughts,” and “What I Have Now”

English Department Award for Flash Fiction

Winner: Abigail Makovoz – “Grisha’s Dream”
Runner-up: Katelyn McKeever – “BlackDog, Running”

Minnie Max Award for Creative Nonfiction

Winner: Oluwaferanmi Fadayomi – “Call Me by My Name”
Runner-up: Josephine Estes – “In a Field”

View past winners here

University-Wide Creative Writing Contests

morinm — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:45:46 +0000

The English Department is pleased to announce that the submission period is open for the 2025 Creative Writing Awards. All current Montclair State undergraduate students, regardless of major, can enter the awards listed below. For a full list of all awards offered by the English Department, please visit the Awards & Scholarships website.

Deadline for all submissions: 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7. Decisions by late April.

Four Creative Writing Awards (open to all Montclair State undergraduate students):

�� submit one story or excerpt from a longer piece (must be labeled as such), limited to 20 pages total, double-spaced. $1000
�� submit a maximum of three poems. If you are submitting more than one poem, the limit is 60 lines per poem. If one long poem, the limit is 150 lines. $300
�� submit a single piece of fiction under 1,000 words, not including the title. It must be self-contained, not part of a larger work. $300
�� submit one piece of nonfiction writing, limited to 20 pages total, double-spaced. $300

For any clarification about details, please email Lee Behlman,�� Adam Rzepka, or David Galef.

Professor Johnny Lorenz Awarded NEA Literature Translation Fellowship

morinm — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 21:13:01 +0000

Johnny Lorenz, professor in the English Department, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant to support his translation of the award-winning Brazilian novel Crooked Plow��by Itamar Vieira Junior. Lorenz is one of 24 NEA Literature Translation Fellows for 2021.

Born in Salvador, Bahia, in 1979, Vieira Junior is a descendant of African diasporic and Indigenous communities and his 2018 novel Crooked Plow received the Jabuti, Brazil’s national literary prize for best novel of the year as well as the prestigious literary prize in Portugal, the Prémio LeYa. In its first two sections, Crooked Plow is told from the perspective of two sisters who are descendants of slaves and daughters of impoverished workers on a plantation in Bahia. These sections depict women characters in their ongoing struggle as land laborers who eventually turn to violence to redefine themselves. The third section shifts in narration to an encantada—a female Afro-Brazilian divinity—who is outraged by the pollution of her river and the misery of her devotees. The novel also offers a portrayal of sacred local rituals informed by the African diaspora and Indigenous belief systems. It has never been translated into English.

Lorenz’s 2012 translation of Clarice Lispector’s A Breath of Life was a finalist for Best Translated Book Award and his translation of Lispector’s The Besieged City was listed as one of the “” by Vanity Fair. His honors include a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and a Fulbright Grant.

Creative Writing Awards

miethk — Tue, 19 May 2020 20:38:36 +0000

Some years ago, Johnny Muller was one of the best students in the advanced fiction workshop. He was talented and hardworking, a combination that won him not only praise for his fiction but also recognition for his essays in other English classes. He graduated summa cum laude and went on for his MFA in creative writing at Rutgers-Newark. A few months into his career there, he died in a car crash. His father approached Montclair State about a scholarship in Johnny’s name, a fitting tribute to what Johnny cared about and what he represented. As his father, John Muller, wrote: “Johnny’s mom and I cannot fathom the loss of our son, but this scholarship will honor his memory and love of writing, and aid other students in reaching their potential.”

Winner: Nelson Vazquez for “Salvation”

Nelson Vazquez is an accomplished, hard-working writer whose plots and characters are as bold and complex as life. His story “Salvation” won this year’s Muller scholarship for its compelling portrait of a recovering addict who deals with rehabilitation, religion, sexuality, and madness. A brief sample from the story: “His brother came to service as a guest, and they sat together with hardbound bibles in their laps and the hardwood pew aching their butts, half listening to the sermon. Luke was well acquainted with these religious rehab-centers, so he wasn’t particularly surprised (or overjoyed) to find that the Deliverance army was the same. God, and apparently tithing, were fashionable antidotes for drug and alcohol addiction. Still, he enjoyed the incense. He relished the sandalwood swirling in the air as the sermon faded in and out of his ears.”

Nelson added these lines after we contacted him:

When I finally became honest with myself about how I want to spend my life, it began to change in miraculous ways. I want to spend my life writing fiction, and this award validates my passion and my persistence in the pursuit of this dream. I am obsessively grateful, and although I’ve worked so hard, I owe so much to Dr. Galef and the faculty of the English department and creative writing program at Montclair State. These professors challenged me, but more important, they believed in me. Johnny Muller was a promising graduate student in the creative writing program at Rutgers Newark with a reputation for talented writing, and it is in his memory that his father continues to honor students with this award. To John Muller, I offer an especially warm “thank you,” and I want him to know that his son’s legacy continues through all the students who are brave enough to choose art over a business degree, a medical degree, or anything a parent would convince their child to be a more “secure” aspiration. I dedicate this award to those students and to Johnny Muller.

Honorable Mention: Nina Stupar for “Iron Ladder to Heaven”

Through a strong sense of perspective and character voice, Nina Stupar has created a microcosm of a world in “Iron Ladder to Heaven.” The story focuses on two characters in a train car they’ve climbed aboard, a young woman escaping her past and a drifter she develops an immediate connection with. What happens between them is tender but resolutely non-sentimental, a gem of character and craft.

Nina provided this bio note: I’m a senior at ��vlog and will be graduating this May with a degree in English, a concentration in creative writing, and a minor in linguistics. I have always had an interest in language and literature and first began writing when I started college in 2014. I’ve spent the last six years writing academically as well as creatively, with a focus on short fiction and literary interpretation.

This prize is named after Tom Benediktsson, a longtime English professor at ��vlog who both taught and wrote poetry, and who continues to write now that he’s emeritus. Tom generously sponsors this annual award to support those students who excel in writing poems and to promote the cause of poetry in general.

Winner: Sarah Sturm for “The Night before the World Ends,” “Another Day Waiting Patiently by the Window,” and “Death of an Optometrist”

Sarah Sturm, a junior majoring in English and minoring in Arabic and creative writing, is in the BA/MA English program. Outside of school, she bartends on weekends and Tuesday nights. Sarah is a poet of remarkable gifts, attuned to the tragedy and absurdity of our historical moment. She sings of and identifies with “the lady with 27 /contacts lodged behind her eyes” and the “recently divorced women / in my area who just want sex” and “the rabbit-man” who reminds her she is “a lone barnacle on the stern of a melting thing.” The sophistication and dance of her wordplay and sonics belie her years. She’s the real thing.

Honorable Mention: Charlie Hilfiker for “Broom Closet” and “PTSD”

Charlie Hilfiker is a junior English major in the Teacher Education program. Their poems explore trauma with startling originality. The young narrator in “PTSD,” a poem with a nursery rhyme structure, embodies a childlike voice without being sentimental or saccharine. The poem explores how a child often can’t discuss violence directly. Instead, they say, “this is what i call my memory game/pushing barbie’s body inside/darth vader’s head.” The speaker continues, “& if you asked her who killed her/she would say ‘the great big blur’/she would say ‘the beatle-bitten tree.’ ” Hilfiker’s haunting work says the unsayable, using language to approximate the bodily experience of wordless terror. I love these poems.

They have spent this past school year serving as secretary for MSU’s creative writing student organization Speaking Through Silence. They would like to thank their professors, peers, friends, and the Tom BenediktssonAward for Poetry committee for this amazing opportunity.

The Carter Ross Award in Flash Fiction is for the best piece of fiction 1,000 words or under. The award is underwritten by the journalist-turned thriller-writer Brad Parks, and named after one of his main characters, Carter Ross, a reporter turned amateur detective in Parks’ Newark-based crime series. Brad Parks and his namesake embody one of the prime directives in journalism: get to the point, and fast. This directive is particularly important in flash fiction, where a suspenseful plot may be reduced to one crucial event, or a character represented by a single salient trait.

Winner: Willow Bryar for “The Goat”

Willow Jay Bryar is an undergraduate student at ��vlog, working toward finishing his bachelor of arts degree as a double major / double minor: English / Communications & Media Arts (majors) | Creative Writing / Mythology Studies (minors). Willow is studying to become a narrative designer (story writer) in the gaming industry. Additionally, he is currently serving as a teacher’s assistant for Professor Fawzia Afzal-Khan. Willow won the Carter Ross Award for his flash fiction with a dramatic point of view, that of an animal about to be sacrificed.

Willow writes:

Thank you so much for your consideration! This has truly made my day! It is in times like these, I believe, when human contact is limited and we are left to our own solitary devices, that we can look to literature—especially to fiction—for support and as a means of escape. Though we may be stuck in isolation, it is important to recognize that this is but another chapter of the HUMAN STORY, which we are lucky to have had the pleasure to live through. One quote stands out in my mind from J .R .R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo says, “I wish none of this had happened,” and Gandalf replies, “So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” Thank you again.

Honorable Mention: Nathalie Vallovera for “And Red All Over”

Nathalie Vallovera is a graduating senior in the BA/MA English major program with a minor in LGBT studies. She enjoys writing young adult fantasy, especially with horror elements, and occasionally creative nonfiction. Nathalie won honorable mention for the Carter Ross Award by writing a short but poignant narrative about beauty images and adolescence. Her creative nonfiction piece “Find Your Own Shade” was selected as honorable mention for the English Department Award for Creative Nonfiction.

For a long time, this award was known as the Libera Calabrese Award for Creative Nonfiction, supported by the writer Louise DeSalvo in honor of her grandmother. Since the death of Louise DeSalvo, the award has reverted to the stewardship of the English department, which is looking for another sponsor.

Winner: Kaleigh Nye for “The Rotting House”

“The Rotting House” is a true-life story with characters and places that straddle the line between rough and smooth, clarity and wonder, weakness and strength. Glimpses of the searing variety of pain that comes from losing people we love too soon are illustrated on the page by a restrained and trusting writer. Glimpses, too, of the comedy that seasons childhood friendships and bonds, again written with tenderness and eye for details that matter. This is a raw and very human story. We are lucky to have Kaleigh here at MSU, sharing the kind of work that prompts deep thinking about the fleeting moments in our lives and how some of those moments keep pulsating long after they are over.

Kaleigh Nye is from Whippany, New Jersey. She lives with her family, where she is the oldest of four and is about to be the first college graduate in her immediate family, as she is graduating this semester with a bachelor’s degree in English. She works as a childcare giver and educator and hopes to eventually be a teacher. In time spent away from academics, she enjoys swimming, being outdoors, and spending time with her family. She has always had a passion for reading, and for writing her own pieces. Kaleigh is exceptionally proud of the all writing she has done up to this point, but especially “The Rotting House.”

Honorable Mention: Nathalie Vallovera for “Find Your Shade”

Nathalie Vallovera is a graduating senior in the BA/MA English major program with a minor in LGBT studies. She enjoys writing young adult fantasy, especially with horror elements. But it’s for this excellent work of creative nonfiction—“Find Your Shade”—that Nathalie receives honorable mention. In what she calls a “trans confession,” Vallovera takes a searingly honest look at transitioning, shoplifting, and coming of age in New Jersey. In addition, Nathalie won honorable mention in the Carter Ross Flash Fiction Award.

Winners of the 2020 English Department Awards and Scholarships

miethk — Tue, 19 May 2020 19:55:31 +0000

Undergraduate Scholarships and Awards:

The Frank G. and Nicole McGuire Scholarship
Winner: John O’Brien
Honorable Mention: Derek Jacobson

The Bessie Saslaw Solomon Memorial Scholarship
Winner: Veronica Pantrantolfi
Honorable Mention: Bernadette Basca

The Shari Kandell Scholarship
Winner: Hope Ortiz

The W. Leonard Newman Award
Winner: William Noon
Honorable Mention: Chris Condon

English Department Teacher Education Award
Winner: Malik Naloev
Honorable Mention: Erica Russelman

W. Bernard Fleischmann Memorial Award
Winner: Sierra Javras
Honorable Mention: Luke Winnicki

The Anthony Lovasco Shakespeare Award
Winner: Nina Stupar
Honorable Mention: John O’Brien

Elizabeth Dean Eler Memorial Award
Winner: Evan Dekens
Honorable Mention: Sierra Javras

The Vivien L. Kwiatek Scholarship
Winners: Asma Dalia, Sidra Habal, Magdaleen Nasser, Justine Prusiensky, Sarah Sturm, Luke Winnicki

Graduate Scholarships and Awards:

The Mary Bondon Graduate Scholarship
Winner: Eman Halimeh
Honorable Mention: Brielle Babiar

The Lawrence H. Conrad Memorial Scholarship
Winner: Jessica Schwartz
Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Hook

Short Story by David Galef Receives Meringoff Writing Award

eideg — Fri, 18 May 2018 17:40:32 +0000

David Galef’s short story “Therapy” is co-winner of the . The award is sponsored by the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers, and includes a prize of $1,250, a plaque commemorating the award, and publication in the next issue of Literary Imagination, the ALSCW online journal. This year’s judge for the fiction award was renowned poet and novelist, Brad Leithauser. Congratulations, David.

English Awards Night: May 9, 2018

eideg — Wed, 16 May 2018 18:44:08 +0000

Congratulations to the recipients of the . They were honored at a celebration on May 9, 2018.

Excerpts from our students’ personal statements

Sarah Dimichino

“After I switched majors from music to English…writing ceased to be just a personal outlet and became a way by which I could organize, distill and share arguments about what I was reading. It has been difficult but at times revelatory. It is now impossible for me to be a passive reader or lazy writer and I have learned to see context in everything—news articles, novels, advertisements—that is now impossible for me to ignore. It reminds me of being a piano technician, in a way: once you know what ‘perfectly in tune’ sounds like, you begin to hear disharmony everywhere.”

Jessica D’Onofrio

“Learning does not just happen in Dickson Hall, it happens outside of it as well when a group of my classmates and I, still buzzing with ideas and opinions and observations not shared in class, spend forty-five minutes in the cold discussing Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning.” Learning happens in Car Parc Diem at 7:05AM when a friend and I talk about the ways in which disability is framed in the X-Men universe, and in the parking lot of my apartment building at 7:45PM when another friend and I unpack how everything we know or think we know is constructed by the lenses of our own experiences…These moments are as much a reflection of my career as a student as my GPA might be and are proof that while being a college student is transitory, the culture of questioning and engaging critically with both literature and the world around me that is fostered by this department and its professors have turned me into a lifelong student and learner.“

Alexis Grainger

“After high school, I carried my iconoclastic viewpoints with me to college English courses, where I was allowed to openly express my findings and opinions in a more liberal academic setting. As a first semester transfer student in the English program at ��vlog, I have not yet had the opportunity to take many English courses; however, the courses I am currently taking have broadened my scope of literature, sharpened my critical thinking, and fine-tuned my essay-writing skills. From my perspective, ��vlog’s English program has redefined what it means to be a student, a reader, and a writer.“

Sigma Tau Delta Inductees

eideg — Wed, 16 May 2018 18:26:37 +0000

Congrats to the inductees of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society. They were honored at the English Department Awards Night on May 9, 2018. Pictured above are: Hyunsu Park, Colleen Calello, Sarah Dimichino, Dawn Macri, Nubia Lumumba, Kacie Lukasik, and Michael Shoykhet.